Re: Devil King
by Dantegrey
Summary: Magnus, the Strongest Campione of his Era, meet his end at the hands of a Pantheon. But Pandora never abandons her children and Magnus, now found himself embroiled in an entirely new world, with their own wars and disasters ready to occur. As a Campione, Magnus was irrational, as a small Kobold of the Dragon Empire, carving his way into the world, he is even worse. [AU, OCcentric]
1. Born to be Wild

**1-Born to be Wild**

Being reborn as a kobold, a tiny, reptilian, sub-species of the dragon bloodline, was not among the plans of Magnus Blacksson.

But beggars can be choosers and after facing an entire pantheon and being toss into the deepest abyss of the _Boundary between worlds_ , he could say that he had got it easy. It was that or the complete obliteration and somehow, Magnus was pretty sure that Pandora has something to do with it. Although, being reborn was not among his options, much less in a world that had something called levels, evolution branches, magic tiers, jobs that open evolutionary paths and things like that.

Back in the day; on a non-time place where time was non existent and things happen back and forth; one of his incarnations, Magnus Frostsson to be exact, living in an advanced world full of technology and things that an old Nordmanni like Magnus would have considered something akin to magic and the works of the gods. Among such things were these things called video games, among those games, one of the genres, the RPG, was surprisingly similar to how the things work in this new and unknown world.

Although Magnus would have loved to learn a bit more, before his "caretaker", a lack of a better world, picked him up from the warm nest on where him and the other dozen or so eggs where laying and tossed his newborn Kobold body into a dark cavern. Before Magnus could blink, another bunch of recently born kobolds was tossed into the cavern, in a similar manner, from a lot of holes in the ceiling of the cave.

Fighting to stand up, seriously unused to such a weak and fragile body, the former Campione, forced his body to move with his will, even if he was the weakest of the get, Magnus will be still the will of the Oldest Campione, the one that defeated the _King of the End_ and brings end to an Era. Painfully slow, at last from Magnus perspective, he started to rise and adapt to the inner workings of his body.

Magnus was not the only one, practically all the newborn kobolds were struggling to get up, the grunts and moans of the reptile creatures echoed in the dark cavern. It was thanks to the good night vision of the race, that Magnus could see anything on the cavern.

Speaking of races and all that, Magnus knew, intellectually knew, that he was a Kobold, and at an instinctual level, knew a lot of things that his race was famous for. But, Pandora protects him, Magnus could not remember his name. It was kind the dichotomy, his mind and body knew things and his soul knew an entirely different set of things. Although, it was not the first time he found himself in such a conundrum, the [ _Authorities]_ that Pandora granted to her children was like having a second mind or soul inside you, sometimes that a seriously confusing state of being, especially with [Authorities] that belonged to gods of madness and the kind.

Raising to his knees, Magnus took a good look at his new body and almost feel back to the ground in despair. It was lame, pathetic even.

Magnus was about, three feet tall, skinny to the point of look malnourished; his limbs were skinny as straws, barely any real muscle in them; however, the tiny claws were a welcome natural weapon, giving the circumstances; his head was bigger than it should be, considering the tiny and fragile size of the body, and his legs were like the hind legs of an animal. A scale tail hanging from the bottom of his back, muscular but tiny, not really useful, but it was needed to keep balance. Magnus was bald, his eyes were a mystery until he could found a reflective surface and his body was covered in tattoos.

Magnus scale body was gray, metal gray, with golden markings; they were similar to the runes he knew; over his shoulders, neck, and back, reaching the tail, on the chest he had two red line markings that grow from the base of her neck to the bottom of the stomach.

Struggling to stand on his feet, but never losing any detail of what was around him; even if the other kobolds were as weak and pathetic as him, in his state, a mere lucky stone to the head would kill him for good; Magnus started to study the cave. Magnus didn't want to see if he was going to reincarnate again, enough dumbfound luck has been this one, to risk another one. Campiones can only put a limited number of miracles before they kicked the bucket as anyone else.

Finally raising to his own two feet, or claws would be more appropriate, the newborn kobold eyed the surroundings and try to move out of the speck of light that came from the open holes in the ceiling, the place where all of them had been thrown into this caverns. It comes as a surprise how Magnus could walk faster and nimbler in a crouching, almost at his fours, position, soon moving out of the light and founding a higher position on the cold and jagged texture of the stone. From that position, Magnus could observe all his surroundings and see if his eyes would adapt to a deeper darkness. If he had to move all around this cave system, he would have to adapt his eyesight pronto, especially, if as he suspected, this caves contains something more than Kobolds.

"Listen, hatchlings", thundered a voice from the ceilings and forcing his sight, the newborn kobold saw two figures looming on the hole, eclipsing the light from the fires that come of that room. "You have born as part of the Stormrage clan, only those worthy will be able to gain a name and a position in the clan". Announced with a voice that was grave and had a hissing quality at the same time. "Fight, grow, tear your enemies apart, survive for nine days and then you will be blessed with a name and a place among the Clan".

As soon as the words ended, the two figures gave a step back and close the hole in the ceiling, soon all the other holes were closed, leaving the newborn kobolds in the dark. As soon as the light vanishes, the sensitive senses of the kobolds picked two alarming sensations. The smell of poison and the sounds of something crawling and slithering in the floor of the dark cavern. As Magnus suspected, they were not alone in this hole. Spiders, snakes, and Pandora know what else was crawling here, ready to pounce of the weak kobolds that loitered the place.

Cursing in his mind, as Magnus did not want to call any attention to where he was, Magnus tried to make head or tails about what was going on here. Confident that his position was relatively safe; he could spot any menace from any position, and waiting for something edible to eat, Magnus focused on what he was now.

Playing with the cards you have was something that Magnus has done all his life. He could protest and grumble, but he will improvise, adapt and overcome; no matter how insane and irrational he could appear to be. Well, Campiones were the definition of irrational; err..now that Magnus thought about it, practically all the wise men and women he had met, always said that no matter what, all Campione are knuckleheads or complete morons, as no sane mind will ever think about facing a bloody deity and win.

A sound called Magnus attention; just under his position, a big ass spider was walking at a slow pace, clicking the sharp end of its mandibles and emitting a wet noise, when the poison falls to the ground, leaving nauseating spots in the floor. Even from the distance, Magnus could smell the odor of the poison and his senses rebelled against it. Sure thing, if he was bitten by that spider he will be done for. But Magnus was hungry and a little desperate, so, he did what he always did. Rip and Tear until the work is done. Unfortunately, Magnus lacked anything resembling his old powers and he will have to improvise with what he had.

Not even thinking about the stupidity of what he was doing, Magnus jumps forward, like a swimmer launching himself into the water; but in this case, Magnus was pointing his tiny but sharp claws to the head of the spider. Before the critter could even register what on earth was going on, the tiny claws of the Kobold entered into its brain by force. With a severe pang of pain, the claws buried themselves on the brain of the spider, smashing its head against the floor, and leaving a big puddle of poison, brain, and flesh, splattered over the surface.

Hissing and cursing his fragile body, the Kobold stood in the jagged and partially furred body of the spider, swallowing the pain and really wishing that he had not broken his own bloody wrists, with that trick. A golden light engulfed the body, surrounding it, into a golden symbol; he could not see it, but the energy, the sensation was so familiar that Magnus founded himself carving the sensation; in a second, something was passed from the spider to the little and pained kobold.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Spitting Cave Spider: Spit Poison trait Usurped]_

" _Is that?!, oh, thanks Mother, you really never abandon your children",_ laughed in joy, with small tears falling from his eyes, the Kobold.

Magnus would never fail to recognize the power of Pandora, it was family for him, his adoptive mother; and all the other Campiones; the divine power that saved his life in the past, has come to him in his darkest hour. Even if he had no idea of what the heck was going on, the sensation was a very watered down version of how a new [Authority] feel when he defeated another Heretic god in his original world.

So...that would mean that Magnus could spit poison now. Not precisely the most elegant of the skills, but right now, he was sure that it would do wonders for his survival in this hellhole. Speaking of that little tidbit, Magnus would have no name until he survived this ritual or whatever, and become part of a clan of Kobolds. Or something along those lines. Pandora protects him, not even ten minutes since he was born and he was already, neck deep, into an insane event and with blood in his hands.

But it was not the time to dwell in philosophies, Magnus needs food, water, weapons, a den on where he could rest safely. Sighing, Magnus took his hands out of the brain of the spider and still hissing from the throbs that the swollen wrist where sending to him, he started to dig in, in the flesh and blood of the spider, carefully avoiding any organs or inner sacks of anything that his nose and guts tell him that it was not edible.

Without any tools, Magnus made himself a dagger with the sharp and pointy end of one of the legs of the spider and used the muscles and tendons of the corpse to improvise a spear with one of the legs and a shield with a piece of her carapace. It would not withstand precisely a war; frankly, Magnus was convinced that it was going to broke as soon as he enters into battle with anything more dangerous than a worm; but it was all he had.

Taking extra precautions, Magnus moved into the shadows of the caves, always moving with his back against the wall; triple checking that there were no surprises like other spiders or snakes or whatever, in the walls or the ceiling; and looking for anything that could be called a fountain of edible water. He did not know much about the Kobolds, but like any other living species, they surely need three things, food, water, and breath. The last one was covered from now, food and water were not so sure. The blood and flesh of the spider have filled his tiny stomach; one of the few advantages of his small body was that he did not need much feeding, but at the same time, all his instincts tell him that food equals power.

It had some sense, the most powerful were the ones that could feed well and regularly, hunger was indeed a powerful motivator, but a starved and famished soldier would have difficulties to battle a well-fed and healthy soldier. Perhaps that was one of the hidden objectives of this trial or whatever, cull the weak and leave only the most clever, ruthless, strong and cunning of the hatchlings. It was a bloody waste of talent, as no one could guaranty nothing in this dangerous darkness, but perhaps the clan was in dire circumstances and had to look out for quality instead of quantity. Being honest, it was not so different from the drastic measure some clans took, back in Midgard when he was a mere mortal, looking for his place in the world.

Survival is never a joke, a Northerner, the old Campione lived his life as a mortal in one of the harshest environments of Midgard. Blood freezing blizzards, scarce food, dangerous hunts, violent raiders; the survival of the fittest was applied with cold and pragmatic efficiency if you wanted to live for another day. Those lessons were forever engraved in the soul of Magnus, and now, those same instincts and skills were passed to this new incarnation. Later, because he was going to survive no matter the cost, Magnus would have a new name, luckily it would be a good name. Magnus was content with his name, his last incarnations had the same name, and it was a good name, Pandora damn it all, he liked it. Magnus even called his twentieth kid like that. He saw him raise as a king of Norway for two decades, he was proud of the lad and lost no chance in saying it, when their worlds meet each other.

Another thing that Magnus was going to miss, big time. Campiones were respected, feared and worshiped, practically all of those at the same time; now, he was the weakest of the weakest, thanks Pandora for the _[Circle of Usurpation]_ gift, that would do wonder for their survival, alas, it was never good to put all your eggs in the same basket, neither to be a one-trick-pony.

Magnus would have to find more preys, not only to eat but to obtain very needed skills, traits, etc, that would make him survive. He seriously hoped that he would not be forever trapped into this weak and lame form. After he killed the spider and got his first skill, especially after he ate, he felt his body grow stronger, not in the physical sense, but in a more deeper and complex form.

Somehow, he knew that he was a Kobold and he was Level 8, but apart from that, he was drawing blanks. All this level system was something deeply engraved in his mind and body, but for the life of him, that Magnus has no bloody idea what it was or how it works. If the scarce knowledge he had about games and the such, from Magnus Frostsson, was accurate, it would be a safe assumption that higher levels, equal higher power. Higher numbers, better things, it was not so preposterous, it was always better to have ten coins than one, but at the same time, sometimes quantity could not substitute quality.

Carefully advancing, Magnus slips into a tiny cave; near a meter wide subterranean stream of water, at first sight, and smell, clean of any pollution; pointing his spider-made spear into the darkness, trying to spring up any ambush or trap. Surprisingly, it works like a charm and suddenly, a snake bit hard into the chitin of the spear, cracking it under its fangs. Cursing for the loss of one of his two weapons, Magnus let the spear go and stabbed the snake a lot of times with his dagger. He stabbed, until the head of the snake, easily the size of one of his hands, fell from the mangled stump that was its neck.

Sighing, Magnus tossed the head and the broken spear far from the cave, he did not want to attract any possible scavengers with the remnants of his last victim, and he smiled when the circle with the golden symbol appeared again under the corpse of the snake. Now that he could see it, the emblem of Pandora was clearly visible on the circle. He would build temples in her honor, fuck, if she doesn't have representation in this world, she deserved it, period.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Cave Snake: Stone mimetic trait Usurped]_

Opening his eyes wide, Magnus´s skin started to take the appearance of the surrounding stones, not only the appearance but the jagged texture, cold sensation, and even the neuter smell. Oh, this was precisely the kind of things that would make him smile. Smiling widely, he proceeds to skin the snake; a big specimen, easily two meters long; and to feast on his flesh, who surprisingly, did taste like chicken. Magnus would have loved to cook the meat, but his Kobold stomach didn't care three dungs about the food, apart of put as much as he could on it.

Drinking from the water, the Kobold of golden markings took a moment to try to see his reflection in the water. Much to his surprise, he did have golden eyes, the same color of the markings of his neck, shoulders and back, reaching even his tail, as he could see over his shoulders by the reflection of the water. His red lines reached until the bottom of his stomach, not reaching the groin, speaking of which, he was a male, detail that he had not picked up until now. Releasing a mental sigh, as it would have been tremendously awkward to be a female, after thousands of year of being male, he noticed that his body has grown in size and muscle. It was not bulging with hidden power, far from it, but he had muscles now, and his body did not look like it was going to collapse from hunger at any second.

Tanning the skin of the snake as best as he could, and hanging it from a rock; he was going to make himself some clothes and a cape; Magnus took a position at the end of the cave, curled into a fetal position and closed his eyes after his body has imitated the stone around. One could think that sleeping was a mortal mistake, but it was a necessity, trying to be awake 24/7 was a bigger mistake, and the travel, between the landing point and this cave, has drained his mental fortitude, as Magnus has to be on alert all the time. A full stomach did not help of course and weighting the worse of two evils, he considered that a digesting nap was in the cards.

As soon as Magnus closed his eyes, he reopened them in alarm; Magnus had the sensation that he has not slept at all, but his body did not feel as sluggish as it was after eating the snake. A chitinous walk in the outside of the cave has awoken him, the sound was deeper and longer than the one that he listened at the beginning of all this ordeal, and Magnus quickly got his dagger ready. Fusing with the stone, he quietly made an exit to the entrance of his little cave and took a peek at what the heck was making that sound.

Suppressing a groan and swearing, Magnus observed how a similar spider to the one that he had killed before, was chewing with chitinous content, into the hanging snakeskin. His tanning has not been as meticulous as he has thought and the remnants of blood and flesh, has called critters to feed. The spider has already eaten a quarter of the skin, ripping with its legs and showing in its poisonous mouth, chewing on it without a care in the world.

The Kobold was in quite the conundrum, he could ambush the spider, stabbing it from its blind side, and getting some extra pieces and food to make a living, on the other hand, this spider was different from the one that he has killed before, so he didn't know what to expect. Of course, Magnus wanted to know what kind of powers he could usurp from the spider but for the moment, it was a sucker bet. He had one chance to deliver a killing blow, and contrary to what happened before, he did not have the high ground, instead, he would have to move silently as best as he could near the spider and stab it, in what he thought it was a weak spot.

Slowly, carefully, climbing the rocks over the place where the spider was eating, he tried to make an encore of the ambush to the Spider cave, however, this time he had a dagger, and it would mean that he was not going to risk breaking his wrists like the last time. It was quite an effort for his new body, to slowly climb; in absolute silence; the stone, always trying to pass under the senses of the spider. A thing that few comprehend, is that the beasts, critters, all animals, are way sharper than they look. They live in a world of predator and prey, dumber senses, equals extinction, and the spiders have never been in the prey column.

Still, and much to his inner chagrin, before Magnus could do anything more, a sudden light blinded him and hit the side of the spider, making it hiss in pain, with a nasty burn on its side. The chitin of the legs was charred and it was clear that the legs were out of commission for the foreseeable future. Rubbing his eyes and cursing under his breath for the sudden blindness, Magnus listened how the spider turn around and hissed to the new menace, spitting a big glob of venom to whoever has attacked it.

Seconds later, he blinked back to sight and saw how the spider was engaged in a long range duel with another Kobold. The spider keeps sending globs of poison, leaving splattering puddles of stench all over the walls and floor, meanwhile, the Kobold was sending volleys of sparks to the spider, with little accuracy, but the charred marks on the carapace and legs of the spider spoke volumes of the power that the sparks hide. In any other situation, he would have found the situation quite hilarious, but right now, he was way more worried about any missing projectile. Be it poison or the sparks, Magnus knew that one of those would cripple him if it hits in chest or heads. Taking cover behind a rock formation, he keeps peeking the battle, safe in his camouflage and seeing how was possible for the other Kobold to keep sending infinite sparks to the spider.

The other Kobold, another male, as he wore no clothes, was a bigger specimen than him; more muscular and with snow colored scaled marked with lightning-like blue markings all over his body, his eyes were deep blue and his claws larger and sharper than his own. In all, it was clear that either it was a higher species of Kobold, or it has been well-fed; not out of possibility as his infinite sparks was a useful tool of hunting; or he has a blessing of some kind, pretty much like his own [Circle of Usurpation]. Anyhow, the other Kobold was either a dangerous foe or a powerful ally, and despite the chill in his spine that tells him that the bluish Kobold was his superior and he should bow to him.

Campiones bowed to no fucking one, except mom, and Pandora would skin him alive if he bowed to another deity, much less, their possible champion.

In the end, the battle started to turn uphill to the bluish Kobold, he may have infinite sparks, but they could not kill the spider in one hit, and the fumes of the poison everywhere was starting to affect him. Unless something happened soon, the bluish one was going to fall under the poison and be devoured by the spider. As Kobold, he knew that the weak die and the strong survive, but at the same time, they were part of the same Clan and abandoning the Clan was a death sentence to any Kobold.

Instincts versus logic battled in Magnus' head. Having another Kobold at his side would be beneficial in the long run, but at the same time, it was dangerous as hell, as the other Kobold may just kill him, devour him and stole his dagger and snakeskin. The cold, brutal way on how their "caretakers" had toss newborn babies into the caves suggest that all relations in the Clan were under the prism of strength. The strong do whatever the fuck they want and the weak had to obey and die.

Mentally rolling a dice, Magnus moved and climbed the rock, waiting for the adequate moment on where he could wait for the perfect strike, once again making an encore of his first kill. Always go for the head was a good strategy ninety percent of the time. Waiting for the spider to move under his position, he jumped and used all his body strength to impale the head of the spider with his dagger, clumsily making it stop and nail its head to the stone floor. Regrettably, the dagger snapped and broke inside of the head, puncturing the already butchered brain of the spider a bit more. He quickly recovers and massaged his wrists, even with the dagger, it has been quite the stab and he has pushed all his body weight on the attack.

The other Kobold, blinked a pair of times, sparks already moving in his fingers, but when he saw him, recognizing him as another Kobold, he lowered his arm, but did not lose his alert attitude.

"Food, mine". He growled menacingly, sparks flying on his hands again.

Magnus blinked surprised for the munched words, do they not speak?; Magnus was thinking clearly even the moment they landed on the hard floor of the cave. Perhaps it was a unique trait of Magnus. The golden glow of the [Circle of Usurpation] made him smile, and with no little surprise, realized that the other Kobold has not reacted to the glow. Perhaps only he could see it?, or it was something akin to the [Herectic gods] only those with magic could see the truth.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Spitting Cave Spider: Wall Walk trait Usurped]_

By Pandora!, that was a fucking useful ability to have, especially with his mimetic and poison-spitting skills, things started to get good.

"We can share the food, lad". Replied Magnus to the bluish Kobold, still standing over the corpse of the spider, massaging his wrists, he may have lost a dagger but he could always make more from the new corpse. "There is enough food for the two of us".

Sparky, as he mentally named the bluish Kobold, blinked, grumbled and sparked a bit more. Those bolts of him could be dangerous, and he was prepared to jump behind the spider, mimic with the stone and spit poison to Sparky, just in case he decided to play rough.

"You...Clan?". The way he said it, it was like he has serious difficulties with the words but at the same time, it carried an importance beyond the mere significance.

"As soon as we get out of this hellhole, sure, Stormrage if I am not mistaken". Chuckled Magnus, jumping from the corpse of the spider and moving to where his chewed up skin was if all, the vapors of the venom of the spider had dried up faster the skin and he could tie the rest of it around his neck, turning it into a comfortable cape.

"You Stormrage? but you grayscales". Said Sparky with confusion clear in his features, although he lost no chance in ripping a leg from the spider and chew on it with ferocity.

"And?", really, he would have loved to raise an eyebrow, but Kobolds did not have fur and instead he just open an eye more than the other, surely making a funny gesture for any witness.

"Stormrage blue, white and dark cloud". Said Sparky with absolute conviction, he may not be able to conjugate a bloody phrase but he could say that like it was heavens mandate, something that it could be for what Magnus knew. "You metal gray, red and golden; no Stormrage...but no else, no Clan colors".

"So, I am unique, aye?". Chuckled Magnus with humor, this world was fun.

"Unique?", answered Sparky not really understanding. Sometimes he had a lot of understanding and the other was dumber than a sack of bricks, how curious.

"Aye, that means there is no one like me", explained Magnus to Sparky, the bluish Kobold may be strong and that sparking thing powerful, but he was far from being a strategist and deep thinker.

"I Unique too!", proudly said Sparky with the mouth filled with spider bits. "I Storm", shouted, with electricity running through all his body in a display of strength, although, he soon shut it off; it has left him with a jagged respiration.

"I see", said Magnus with a wide smile, Storm may be dumb, but he was definitely an asset to have at hand when the things went south. "Well, Storm, now that we are Clan, why don't we feast on our prey, made some good weapons and look for other Clan, aye?".

"We-a-pons?". Blinked Sparky and Magnus sighed.

Of course, it was too easy. Well, they still have about eight days ahead of them, so teaching his newfound kinsman or kinskobold? will be a good way to pass the time they would not be using in surviving. Something tells him that it was going to be uphill from now on.

As the day passed in such a way, Magnus soon discovered several things and had a long ass list of questions to made as soon as someone has the decency to explain some basic bloody things to him. On the first day of their alliance, Sparky shows remarkable talent in combat and his sparks, surely some form of electric magic, but Storm was far from being a thinker. It took two days for Storm to learn to speak in more than infinitives and even then when he was excited about something, he reverted to his more simplistic form of speech.

They defeated a couple more of those spider things, quite easily, perhaps that's why the [Circle of Usurpation] did not activate and secured their little cave with all the traps that Magnus could muster with the lack of materials he had. In a sense, their race seems fit to survive in this kind of environment, they knew how to move, how to hunt, how to pick up trails and smells and recognize when they are over their heads...kinds that took time and effort to develop when Magnus was human.

Both of them had an instinctive knowledge of some things, like who and what they are; unfortunately, Sparky could not teach Magnus about the sparky thing, as he did it and that was it, it was like trying to explain how to walk or breathe, you do it, period. That lead to the question of the levels and what means once you reached the top, would you level up? or something different will happen? Magnus was eager to discover, but alas, they would have to concentrate on surviving for the time being.

Armed with spider stinger daggers and spears and with a badly stitched armors; after they started to fought together; they become bigger examples of their races, growing to a four feet mark and with muscles in their bodies. Like it or not, the two days that they have been hunting the two spiders have turned them into solid combatants, although Sparky was a more berserker type of fighter, surrounding himself in sparks and slamming his opponents by brute pure force. Magnus, on the other hand, would have loved to have some of his old powers back, a good sword, heck, a good ax would be a bloody godsend, but he had to make the best of it with their spider made weapons. Pure crap by any sane definition, but way better than barehanded, even with their claws.

On the third day, they found another set of Kobolds, this time, however, it all ended in blood.

Sparky and him, were hunting down another spider; well, Magnus was hunting down spiders as he could turn practically invisible against the stones of the cave and move like a spider, climbing walls and stalking their preys from the ceiling, not to mention how Magnus has grown quite adept and spiting the venom.

Judging from the reaction of a couple of lizards that he has used it on; without gaining any boon from the [Circle of Usurpation], validating his theory of how it must be a battle and not an execution or taking advantage of others victories; Magnus´s poison could be lethal for tiny species like him, but not so lethal with big things like another spider and the such.

With luck, they would found something better than the usual lizard, spider or snake critters that they have found so far.

As Magnus followed the trail of a big spider, he realized that another set of Kobolds has taken care of the critter and when the smell of roasted flesh reach his nostrils, he salivated in surprise. This kobold has managed to get fire in this dark and damp caves. Following the enticing smell, but never lowering his guard or his camouflage, he continued crawling in the ceiling until he found the place where the smell came from.

There was a trio of red scaled Kobolds, all of them looking well feed; two males and a female; who were roasting the carcass of the spider that Magnus has been stalking for the last hours. Over the legs and jagged fur of the spider, little fires can be seen, burning the flesh inside of the hard chitin. Immediately, he thought of Sparky and his electric powers, perhaps this was from a different breed, a different kind of Kobold. Survival of the fittest?, there was something else going on here, otherwise, wasting talents such as Sparky and the red loot over there would be a terrible waste and a stupid idea, especially if the Clan was under times of crisis and needed quality over quantity.

However, when Sparky asked if he was Clan too, that would mean that the Stormrage were not the only Clan using this caves as a quality test of some sort, perhaps other Clans were doing the same, putting their hatchlings to the test and see how many of them are able to survive, in this hellish conditions. Fortunately, Magnus has found an ally in Sparky, even if the bluish Kobold was convinced that he was the Alpha. Nothing farther from the truth, but Storm was not clever enough to recognize sarcasm.

Anyhow, this three could either be allies or foes. As they feed on the carcass, Magnus could easily see the hierarchy among them, the bigger male was the alpha, the other male was kicked by the female and the female was the beta of the pack. Big Red Alpha, Red Beta, and Red Omega, they did not differ too much from a wolf pack, and somehow he was convinced that this was a common theme among the Kobolds. Submit to the strongest, unfortunately for them, Magnus was cut from a different cloth and trying to dominate a Campione, even if he was lame as hell right now, was a futility effort.

They will never surrender, never give in, never give up. They have slain deities, and by so, become partial deities themselves, under that prism, trying to impose any kind of will over them was a futile effort, if gods couldn't do it, who was arrogant enough to believe that they could do best?.

Knowing that the trio of three Kobolds would still be there, Magnus opted for a retreat and look out for Sparky, perhaps they could join the three reds and increase their chances of survival for the six days they had left, until whoever was the upper caverns finally get them out of there and gave him a name. Magnus would be lying if he did not admit that he was eager to get a blood name already. Being nameless was not fun.

It didn't take long for him to found Sparky, waiting in alert in the corner of a room, ears, and nose open and catching any detail, even with their night vision, the eternal darkness of the caves was like being blind half of the time. Not a pleasant sensation. Quickly reuniting with the bluish Kobold, he told them about the red and for his surprise, Sparky did not react in a good way. He snorted violently and sparked with violence for a second, lightening the cave with his brilliance, and making him squint his eyes for the sudden brilliance.

As Magnus recovered, Sparky demanded to go and hunt down those other Kobolds, there was violence and hate in his eyes and body language. Something that greatly surprised Magnus, if they were both Stormrage, Magnus should experiment such violent emotions too, unless, it was something deeper and related to his idea that perhaps Storm was the chosen of some Deity/Clan and had an ax to grind with the Clan/Deity that sponsored the red Kobolds.

If it was the latter, would Magnus usurp that blessing?, widening an eye more than other; hated lacking eyebrows; Magnus just followed Sparky into the battle, guiding him through the caves, until they found the still festering Kobolds, Sparky screamed a war cry and charged ahead, raising his spear and his body covered in electricity. Meanwhile, Magnus has already fused with the stone and was flanking the corpse of the spider. As Magnus suspected, as soon as the red trio saw Sparky, they reacted with their own hissing and screams of hate and rage, tossing little pebbles of fire at the charging bluish Kobold.

In Sparky´s honor, it must be said that his electric trick did endure the first volley, the second one, however, sent him to the ground, smoking like a well-cooked filet and with a lot of his scales already charred and reddened from the impact of the fireballs. Truth to be told, Magnus was far from impressed by the tiny red balls that the Kobolds tossed, surely, they would be dangerous for a Kobold like him, but only through sheer number looks like they have survived so far. Not a bad tactic, especially with a dangerous element like fire, an inhabitant of the frozen mountains of Midgard in the past, he could recognize and respect the power of fire, it has saved him and his kinsmen lives more times that he would like to count.

The first spit of venom hit the biggest of the red trio in the eyes, making him scream and fall to the ground, trashing as the poison filtered inside his eyeballs and bloodstream, somehow, Magnus knew that, that must be seriously painful and unpleasant, but he had a job to do and nailing the biggest foe was always a priority. Falling from the top of the cave over the female who was sending fireballs in the direction of the poison, a show that she was the beta for a reason, Magnus buried one of his daggers in her brain, killing her instantaneously, but as it happens every time, the dagger cracked under the pressure and got stuck inside the head like a gory trophy.

Magnus really needs to put his hands in some real weapons and pronto.

The last of the trio, jumped at him, claws ready and jaws open to rip him to shreds, but Magnus just simple ducked under the enraged charge of the red Kobold and delivered a lethal uppercut to the red kobold´s chin with his other dagger, stabbing and closing his jaw in an uppercutting stab, that pierce jaw, inside of the mouth and brain. The red Kobold corpse falls limp immediately, as his brain was nothing but a mush of minced meat. Tossing the corpse aside, Magnus walked to the last of the red Kobolds, the poisoned one, who was in the floor foaming from the mouth and spasmodically twitching, and with all the strength Magnus could muster, ripped his throat out, making him go limp in a second from the shock and the blood loss.

Much to his surprise, three golden circles appeared under the corpses of the Kobolds.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Brimstone Clan Kobold: Pyrokinetic skill Usurped]_

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Brimstone Clan Kobold: Fireproof trait Usurped]_

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Brimstone Clan Kobold, Red Chosen of Tiamat Blessing Usurped]_

His smile vanished when a sudden pain made him bend over, losing breath for a second as he felt like his souls were being rent to tears and sewn together again with fishing string and a rusty needle. He has done something that he should have not, for what it seems.

 _[Circle of Usurpation] has Usurped a blessing that has interfered with the destiny of the Brimstone Clan and the Tale of the Consort of Tiamat. Would you accept the destiny of the Red Chosen?._

 _YES?/NO?_

 _[We Want Grandbabies] trait from Pandora has activated and forced you to accept_

 _ **YES, DAMN IT**_ _/_ _no?_

 _Message from Pandora and Epimetheus: We want Grandbabies to spoil, damn it, and yours and Tiamat babies are going to be bloody adorable._

"Bloody hell, Mom!, are you out of your mind?!",screamed Magnus in loud voice, although it sounded like a gurgling moan as he was still recovering from the shoveling that the [Red Chosen of Tiamat] has done to his soul.

Magnus did not remember anything about Tiamat, apart from the knowledge that she was some kind of Babylonian goddess/monster and had a deep connection with monsters and the Ocean. Without access to the infinite knowledge of the _Boundary_ _between realms_ , all Magnus had was half memories and sensations of all the knowledge that he had in the past.

Magnus was going to miss the blessing of the _Kvasir_ , the enhanced cunning that the mythical beverage granted was more than welcome, especially in a situation like this. However, the discovery of the second gift from Pandora, the [We want Grand babies] was something that Magnus did not expect at all. Pandora was forcing him to participate in a bloody tournament to win the right to be the boy-toy of a bloody goddess, Pandora protect him...errr, well, okay, not the most adequate prayer right now, but the sentiment should be clear, what on earth was she thinking?, Magnus was the lamest thing ever right now, and, wait a second.

Sparky, this red kobold, it somehow was fitting, the clans were already doing a culling of the weak, they know that their Chosen ones had born and they had to toss them in here to, A) Made them grow absurdly fast, B) Eliminate the competence, convinced that their Chosen was the stronger one.

If it was the case; and somehow, Magnus was pretty sure that it was; Magnus has become a rival for Sparky, in more ways than one, and he would have to fight with Sparky at the end, not to mention that Magnus didn't want to even think about what could happen if he becomes the Chosen of all the possible colors at once. Tiamat would rip his soul to shreds and without his [Authorities] he was pretty much defenseless against that possibility. Uh, exactly like the first time he killed a deity, he was a mere human who managed to kill the White Bear god Nanook.

Talk about a blast from the past.

At the end of the third day, Magnus has discovered that he was now part of a bigger destiny; as possible Consort of a Goddess; and Pandora was making all she could to make sure that he could survive and gave her and her husband grandbabies. Magnus would have laughed at the absurdity of the situation if he wasn't the star of the show. Well, it was not the first time that he had courted a supernatural being.

As Campione he even had a harem of sorts, as modern people would have understood it, mind you, it was nothing like the Arabian painted it, as seraglios of women who were there only to sate his lust. Magnus´s women fought at his side and have voice and vote in the actions of the Clan, they practically governed the Clan Hall and took care of a lot of things that Magnus never had the talent for.

But first Magnus would have to survive, still pained from the brusque, whatever has been done to his soul, he picked up the smoking body of Sparky; after checking that he was alive; charred and pained, but alive; and drag him to the little cave that they had transformed into their den. Once there, Magnus toss the body inside, closed the eyes again and prayed to Pandora for a better next day, it was the first third of the nine days and he was already neck deep in a problem that was way over the head of his actual body.

He should have know better, but hope was the last thing that was left in Pandora´s box, right?.

The beginning of the fourth day was relatively bright, Sparky was exultant that they have killed the Brimstone Clan Kobolds, even if he just took two shots and fall to the floor like a potato sack, but Magnus was not in the mood to contradict Sparky and just let him enjoy his moment of glory. Magnus suspected, Sparky must be one of the Chosen ones, possibly the white, blue or dark colored one, as Sparky said it was the colors of the Stormrage Clan. Curiously, until he becomes part of the Chosen debacle, Magnus was part of the Stormrage Clan, yet, he did not have any of their colors. His scales were metal gray, he had golden runes like markings all over it and two red line markings over his chest and stomach. No idea what Clan could have something of the sort.

On a side note, eating Kobold flesh from whatever was left of the remains of the trio after the critters and scavengers ended with them, was surprisingly tasteless and bland; it would be needed a lot of species and cooking to made something palatable of that, however, it may be a form of preventing Kobolds to become the main source of food for their Clans, making them cannibals. On a time of need, Magnus was sure that this reptilian race has done something similar, but seeing how unsatisfying the flesh was, it would be hardly a surprise if it was only done, under the direst of the situations. On the other hand, spider and snake flesh were very tasteful and the occasion on was he hunted a couple of lizards of some kind, the lizard was tastier too.

They pass the day by patrolling the surrounding caves and crevices of their little home, seeing that the cave complex was surprisingly big, they could get lost in this caves, so they decided to keep it close to the original place where they were tossed to the caves. Just in case they wander too much and they get lost and could not get back to the "Stormrage Clan hole", on a ninth day. Magnus knew that if they were not close by the ninth day, the "caretakers" would shrug and think they were dead, lost in the caves below or in the stomach of the multiple critters that made a living in the caves.

Good thing, they have not to meet anything more dangerous than the Spitting Cave Spiders of the Cave Snakes, the lizard that gave nothing but taste meat were not a threat, but Magnus was sure that there was something odd happening in the caves.

All his instincts as Campione were telling him that there was something odd going on here and there was something incredible dangerous stalking them in the darkest corners of the caves. But without any proof, it was just his own bloody suspicions and paranoia acting. It was like an itch that he could not scratch and it was making him jump at the lesser of the sounds.

Despite having established a good base in the cave over the little underground water stream, Magnus was not comfortable with the idea of waiting for whatever is out there, to hunt them as they were sleeping, so he decided to go hunt it, instead. Sparky didn't like the idea, but he understood that they were sitting ducks and he had the biggest chances to found and survive whatever was out there.

Sparky, of course, has no idea of his power over fire now, the last thing he needs, was to Sparky to call him a traitor and trying to kill him in the name of the Stormrage Clan. Sparky was a very nice test dummy, he was dumb enough to wholeheartedly accept the destiny of the Chosen ones and he could observe him, see what happens to him and what to expect, as he was part of the same bullshit too. In all, Sparky was his personal coal mine canary, if Sparky starts to choke, he would look out for the nearest fresh airspace.

Taking advantage of his camouflage and his wall-crawling abilities, Magnus went deep into the caves, trying to pinpoint the sensations he was feeling. Once his mental alarms raise the volume, Magnus understood that that means he was close to the origin of fear sensation that he has had in the back of the neck for the entire day. It was mentally exhausting, especially considering that he was armed with nothing more than a couple of improvised daggers, made with the legs of a killed Spider and his snake cape. Magnus was depending on a little too much in his stealthy skills when he knew that it has never been his forte. With the addition of the domain over fire, he was expecting to change the tendency but Magnus was not arrogant enough to believe that he was not the bottom of the food chain.

Kobolds are not a strong race, period. Indeed they could be cunning bastards and thanks to their size and bodies, they could be a terrible menace in confined spaces or caves like this, but their bodies are not ready to withstand any kind of prolonged battle, much less carry heavy weapons or armors. They were lithe and fast, their jaws and claws could do a lot of damage and a bunch of them armed with spears and shields could be made a bigger prey bleed to the death with a continuing barrage of debilitating strikes.

But all those advantages took into consideration that they had numbers in his favor. And Magnus was alone, in the middle of a cave that he has never seen before and tracking down something that possible would eat him alive and spit his bones to the nearest crevice. It was irrational and insane but somehow, Magnus was happy, he was exhilarated.

Only when he was facing another Campione or a Heretic Deity felt like this, the uncertainty of your destiny, you can live or die in a second; his blood was pumping, his heart was drumming and he had a wide and wicked smile in his face, even if his mind was screaming bloody hell and get the hell out of there, his soul, the part of him that was and would forever be a Child of the Fool and the Witch was roaring in joy.

This is what Magnus was born for, tracking a worthy enemy and claim his life in battle, no tricks, no underhanded tactics. All of him, against all of whatever was in the shadows and the price, was the highest of all. Walking out of the battlefield alive.

Tracking the elusive prey was one hell of a task that he was not expecting, the entire fifth day of the hellhole has pass, and Magnus has done nothing but to hunt clues, that lead to nothing, or directly to little nests of Spitting Cave Spiders, the food and the extra daggers were welcome though, and even if it was not water, the blood and poison of the spider; tasting like rancid vomit, mind you; were enough to keep him pretty well feed and nourished.

Magnus was starting to grow accustomed to spider flesh and blood, he really needs a change of diet; a snake or a juicy lizard would be very welcome. As soon as Magus managed to get out of this hellhole, he was going to feast in boar, beef, chicken, beer, mead and all the fruits and desserts he could find, by Pandora, he really wanted to eat some bloody real food and not this nasty critter grub.

At the begging of the sixth day, his prayers were more or less answered and Magnus managed to found a different critter in the dark caves, well, to be precise, he managed to find a spider cocoon rip open and a beast feasting in the corpse of the spider that has tried to trap it.

The only description that did come to his mind at seeing the thing, it was a fat mole, with huge ass claws. It was easily the size of a pony but moved and walked like a fat baby seal. It was furred and had some kind of stone like armor over the spine and the padded claws, each one of twelve inches long easily. Its long snot was buried in the abdomen of the spider as it feasts in the creature, ignoring the little Kobold that was sneaking behind him, trying to find a weak spot in his big body. The fur may be a good protection against cold and water, and the stone like armor was actually doing a great job protecting the main body, alas it was almost a weak point itself.

Carefully drooling poison over the spider dagger Magnus had in one hand, he slowly crawled to the side of the fat, armored mole and in a sudden sprint, Magnus stabbed the place between the armor and the flesh with all his might, burying the poisoned dagger deep into the weak spot. The sudden jerk and back-slap of the mole, send Magnus flying several meters and slamming against the stone wall. By Pandora, all his bones rattled and cracked like the toys of a baby after the impact, and Magnus was lucky that the claws have not actually touched him, otherwise, instead of flying against the wall in one piece, he would have done it in five slices. The mole screeched, and the sound was like a knife over a chalkboard; with his sensitive Kobold senses, it made him cringe and clench his teeth.

Magnus took the appearance of the stone and pick another dagger, but before he could do anything, all his mind screamed for dodge to the right, and acting by muscular instinct, Magnus could saw, with wide eyes, how the mole has followed all his movements, even camouflaged and has almost chopped him to pieces with a violent swing of his long and sharp claws, that had need little effort to cut deep into solid stone.

Spitting poison to the face of the mole, Magnus quickly makes a distance between the slow but powerful beast and him. Screeching again for the poison to the face, the mole shook his head to the sides, cleaning as much as he could of the poison. Magnus was not deluding himself, the poison was not strong enough to kill the beast, if it were the case, the spider should have been feeding on the mole and not the other way around.

The mole did not lose sight of him, even if Magnus was camouflaged with the stone, it was clear that the mole can easily saw him; more than seeing, as the moles are blind for what he could remember of his past life; the beast had an impressive sense of hearing or something like that, something that allows the beast to track all his movements. If that means that all his stealth and backstabbing tricks were out of the options, then Magnus would have to made use of the other resource he had.

Taking a deep breath, Magnus opened his jaw and exhale a stream of fire directly against the face of the mole. For his perspective, it was a stream of orange flames, but considering that he was a four feet tall, skinny Kobold, it was not precisely the fiery breath of a powerful dragon, but it would do his job, that it was distracting and harm the mole. Even if it did not need his eyes, his nose was still a very sensitive point, and he has just smashed it with a hot fire, making the mole screech in pain and thrash around with his claws. Even if Magnus did all the could dodge it, one of the claws left two deep gashes in his chest and side, making him bleed over the stone floor.

It was painful, but with the rushing of the battle running through his veins, Magnus ignored the gashes and showered the mole with venom and little fireballs, running around the beast in circles and always making sure that he was at the sides of the beast or behind it. With his size and weight, the mole was a professional digger but it was a nightmare to turn around and attack a, way faster and agile beast than him.

Ignoring the exhausting and the bleeding, Magnus keep attacking the mole with fire and poison, at some point, the fur finally caught fire and the mole screeched unable to keep up with the assault, the poison would have been a nuisance in any other circumstances but weakened, "blinded", pained and exhausted, the mole body finally give up and with a gurgled screech, heavily lumped into the floor.

Magnus fell face front directly to the floor too, with the pain and exhaustion of the combat finally catching him, breathing in ragged breaths, he hissed from the pain, trying to close the gashes of his chest and side with a hand. He was bleeding too much.

The golden light of the [Circle of Usurpation] made him smile, it was the proof that Magnus has managed to beat the bloody thing. His corpse was a big one, so much was sure, and it was a nice change of diet, surely, under all that fur and stone armor, there must be red and glorious meat; as soon as Magnus recover his bloody breath he was going to butcher the bastard and devour his heart. Magnus needed the food now, healing consume a lot of nutrients, and mole flesh was exactly what the healer recommended to make up for the lost blood.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Dire Mole: Blindsight Usurped]_

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Dire Mole: Stone Carving Claws]_

Ha, two for one, nice. It was like those times on where a powerful Heretic Deity was taken down by a less powerful Campione, sometimes Pandora allows her children to steal more than one [Authority] from the gods that they have slain, but only if they deserve it.

It seems that the [Circle of Usurpation] works in a similar way, not sure of the criteria, but it was clear that this has been a battle for the ages, from his perspective of puny Kobold. The two Usurped traits activated as soon as he felt the touch of Pandora over him, granting him perfect sight in the middle of the darkness; quite a surprise considering that he had his eyes closed from the pain; and had to get his hands out of his wounds, as his nails suddenly grow to a six inches, sharp as hell, claws. Well, that would be useful, to the hell with the spider daggers, although he was about to make himself a spear with the legs of the spider and one of the claws of the mole.

Crawling over the floor, Magnus rested against the burning fur of the death mole, thanks to his [Fireproof] trait, he did not have to worry about burns, and the fire will possible scatter any critter or scavenger. In this darkness, the fire must be the wrath of the gods, as it brings pain, light, and heat to a cold and dark world. Using his new claws, Magnus chopped pieces of the roasted flesh of the mole and with tears in his eyes, he started to feast in the body of the mole, greatly enjoying the taste of the red meat.

The rest of the sixth day passed as Magnus recovered from the battle and used his new claws to skin the mole and built himself a nice, warm and resistant fur kilt and cape; using pieces of the stone like armor, who was cartilage of some kind in truth, to reinforce shoulders and groin. All of it tied with dried tendons of the spider and the mole.

In all, he looked like some kind of barbarian Kobold. But for the first time since Magnus has reborn in this world, he felt dressed again, although his kobold mind didn't seem to mind much the matter. The scales of his body were cloth enough, and the only real worry was to protect the groin sack where his penis and testicles were protected when they were not used for reproduction. Kobolds have a big reproduction rate, once the heat hit the races, each female can easily make half a dozen of eggs that will grow to the three feet, skinny kobold Magnus was once.

Still, Magnus liked his new clothes, as crude as they were, and the fur and shoulder armor made him feel a lot more confident than before, especially now that he had claws to fight his enemies; real, dangerous claws that could cut stone, and no doubt could cleave the bodies of any of the critters that lived in this caves.

At the beginning of the seventh day, Magnus resumed his hunt, after engorging himself in the roasted body of the mole and look out for a pond of underground water. Blood and poison from the spiders were good and all, but it tastes awful and he was sure that only his [Spit Poison] skill was granting him resistance to the effects of the Spitting Cave Spiders venom, that he was drinking to keep the thirst away.

As he continue trailing the sensation and the fear, he battled more spiders; not really getting anything from them, as it seems that between his claws and pyrokinetic skills they were no longer a threat for him; getting deeper into the farthest caves, caves that started to make him wary of the slightly wet and humid surface of the stone. There was something on the ambient, something that made his scales shiver. Not only for the sensation that there was something seriously wrong going on here, but for the fact that he was feeling actually sick. His eyes were watering, his nose itched, all his scales were almost shuffling themselves trying to get rid of the sensation that assaulted them.

However, Magnus persevered, killing all the spiders that he found in his way with his claws; from the occasional spider to kill a dozen of them that were shuffling around a cave filled to the brim with lifeless husks of their previous victims; and seeing the remnants of their meals, noticing the large number of Kobolds corpses; not really a surprise considering how dozens of them were tossed into this slaughterhouse when they were little more than babies; and the occasional large beast that he did not recognize but he was happy to do not have faced it in battle.

The rest of the seventh day was a tense alert, killing any spider that came close to his crawling spots of the few times that has taken refuge in a crevice trying rest a little and recover from the sickness that seems to affect him inside the lair of the whatever was preying on the kobolds of this test. Frankly, Magnus considered it a waste of possible talent and disposable meat and cannon fodder, but without information about the world outside of this bloody cave, there was little that Magnus could do about it.

Barely catching any sleep, Magnus awoke to the eight days of the trials, hide behind a thick thread, using the silk of the spiders as his blanket; somehow, his wall-crawling skill allowed him to walk on the threads as the rest of the spiders do. Surely because his skill comes from those very same spiders and it would be ridiculous for a spider to be caught in his own thread, that would be awkward.

Munching an egg from the sack that he had at his left; he has been collecting the occasional egg sack of Spitting Cave Spiders for food; Magnus crawled over the surface of the stone, camouflaged and always careful of do not disturb the threads were lots and lots of spider seems to be working on something, or simply cocooning more victims into food for the future. So far Magnus has seen Kobolds from all kind of colors, blue, red, dark, white, yellow and one of them was of similar metallic color like him, but in lighter tones.

The biggest surprise, however, was how Magnus almost swore, when a trio of green colored Kobolds riding spiders came from one side of the cave where he was, along with a swarm of fist-sized spiders of black and red color. Hugging the ceiling where he was hanging, Magnus kept himself as silent and immobile as possible, observing with attention the newcomers who were Kobolds like him, but he seriously doubted they were newborns like he was, barely seven or eight days ago. The spider riders were carrying spider made weapons too, but this one seems way better than the crude weaponry Magnus crafted in the past. In fact, they had leather, chitin armor, rope and other indications that pointed out to an outside supplier or this trial was seriously rigged.

The curiosity took the better of him and made him follow the Kobolds inside the caves, following them as they guide him through a set of caves, where another dozen or so of similar raiders were preparing and feeding spiders with recently captured Kobolds of all colors. Quickly doing the maths on his head, if this bastard has already killed twenty of so Kobolds from the new batch and had a dozen riders, they could easily kill whatever was left of this batch of youngsters and basically exterminate a generation of Kobolds in one swift strike.

And, if Magnus was not mistaken, that would left Tiamat without any Chosen Ones, unless there was a Green Chosen of some sort, something that would have sense, however, this spider plus Kobold alliance was not exactly what he could think about the domain of Tiamat.

Tiamat sure has ties with monsters; the reptilian kind if all her Chosen Ones were Kobolds; and the Ocean, spiders were not precisely what Magnus would have pictured Tiamat with. Anyhow, this was pure speculation by his part, without more knowledge about the world and how it works, Magnus was working practically on instinct, and it was telling him that this was really wrong. Nor that he cared three troll dungs about the other Kobolds, but simply because like it or not, Magnus was a Kobold and they are going to hunt and kill him as much as the rest.

When they reached the main cave of the little cave network, Magnus finally saw the architect of all the paranoia that he has been suffering the last days, and as soon as he saw her, Magnus had to suppress a loud groan and crying out loud for Pandora´s protection. This was not what he was expecting, surely a big ass monster was in the cards, some kind of cave king that had all this place as his domain, a big lizard, the queen of the snakes, something along those lines. Unfortunately, it was a Queen of Spiders kind of thing.

Like a queen in the middle of her web, the hybrid of an immensely beautiful woman and a Spitting Cave Spider was hanging from a node of threads, smiling to the cavalry of Kobolds and spiders that was slowly preparing to strike the unfortunate bastards that were left in the caves where they have been dropped.

She was astonishingly beautiful, at last, from the waist up; her lower body was the chitinous body of a large spider, but instead of the jagged fur of the Spitting Cave Spiders, this was black and red, with an hourglass symbol in the middle of a web, proudly displayed on the chitin of her abdomen. She had eight legs, all ending in sharp and pointy stingers, and where the head of a spider would be, there was a woman´s body, from the waist down.

In fact, and with a curious thought on the back of his mind, it does seems that this spider-woman had the same reproductive organs like any other female human, if the strategic position of a long piece of cloth and how she dressed in a very revealing, spider themed, black and purple dress that left nothing to the imagination. She had four eyes, completely black, and a long white and silky hair that reached her arachnid abdomen; as she smiled, the fangs inside her mouth were clearly visible.

Patiently waiting, as none seems to be the wiser about his presence in the cave, Magnus waited to see what they were planning and preparing his attack. There was little he could do, but by Pandora, no one was going to hunt him like a bloody dog, Magnus was going to fight tooth and nails until the bitter end, taking with him as many of these bastards as possible.

However, something sends it all to hell. When the spider-woman got closer to the Kobolds and raising her hands, started a chant that made his blood boil. It was a divine chant, it was a calling for the aid of a deity; Magnus may have picked up the name Arachne, but he was not sure as he was in the verge of foaming in rage; in order to empower the Spider raiders with the blessing of a deity.

[Divinity´s Bane] was the name of the skill that was making Magnus feel like this.

In an ironic way of things, what Magnus was feeling, was pretty much like the instincts that every Campione had whenever they were close to a Heretic God or a Divine Beast. In this case, Magnus was burning with the desire to kill this spider-woman and rip her to shreds. Considering that Magnus was now part of a thing called the [Chosen Ones of Tiamat], Magus really should do all he could to temper down that sudden rage, just in case it activates in the worst moment and left him with the ass in the open, like the time he faced an entire Pantheon, situation that ended with him tossed into the abyss.

But this was not that time, and with all the rage and power that the mysterious gift was given to him, Magnus impulsed on the stone with all the strength he could muster and calling for the [Stone Carving Claws], he clawed the chest and face of the spider-woman who shrieked in pain and agony for the sudden attack, cutting her enchanting short.

From then on, it was a blur for Magnus; a red haze, a lot of screams, clicking and hissing, the fire burning, blood being spilled and the echoes of a battlefield. Somehow, Magnus knew that he has unleashed a massive fire in the middle of them; how could not be otherwise; a very inflammable web of the Spitting Cave Spiders, sending fire in all directions and turning the caves of the little spider covenant into a blazing fire. Magnus may be [Fireproof] but he was not [Smokeproof] and the black and acrid smoke of the inferno could choke him as good as it was doing with the rest of the spiders and Kobolds. Especially the spiders were in a panic for the sudden fire, that spread quite rapidly by the threads, burning down spiders and egg sacks with equal easiness.

Magnus claws rend Kobold and spider flesh with equal easiness, and even if Magnus knew that they were hurting and wounding him; quite grievously too; Magnus did not care and continued butchering anything that gets in his way, in the end, he stood over a mountain of corpses and coughing his lungs out. But that was not important. What was important was that the spider-woman and he jumped at each other, ready to tear the other apart.

Magnus survived.

That much he was pretty sure as he could still remember the voices and the boxes that appeared in his closed eyes, the golden light of the blessing of Pandora was filling him with the rewards he has earned for the enemies that he has killed. And it has been quite the loot if he could be a bit cocky about it; still, Magnus was way beyond any protest now, his body was a bloody wreck. [Divinity´s Bane] was a double-edged sword, sure it has given him the power to tear these bastards to shreds, even the spider-woman, although, even if it makes the pain disappear, once the boost was over, his body has to cope with the consequences.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Swampmist Kobold Clan: Poison-proof trait Usurped]_

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Swampmist Kobold Clan: Green Chosen of Tiamat Blessing Usurped]_

Oh, for Pandora´s sake, another one, and as Magnus feared, the bloody trial was rigged. The Swampmist Clan had the aid of the Spider-woman and her deity, to made sure that only the Green Chosen was the one that got out of the cave, with all his or her; as he did not remember who was among all the corpses; kin at its side and exiting triumphantly with a cavalcade of the spider with them. Speaking of which.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Arachne: Spiderkin trait Usurped]_

 _[We want Grandbabies to add Allure to the effects of the Spiderkin trait]_

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Arachne: Webbing skill Usurped]_

Well, that was nice, not sure what the heck was those two traits, but anyhow, all powers were welcome even if the alluring part was something that made him want to groan for the shenanigans of his adoptive parents, sure Magnus loved them, but sometimes they were a little too much for anyone.

" _Ha, look at this little bastard, he is quite the killer, what a carnage has he made here, with the Arachne bitch and these rotten bastards of the Swampmist Clan"._ Echoed distantly a voice near him, it was a voice that had the tone of one that is accustomed to gave orders in the battlefield and demanded instant obedience.

Carnage, now that was a fitting name, all things considered.

" _Carnage, uh"._ Replied the voice, he must have said the last thought out loud. "Ha, definitely _, I see why, so be it little one, that would be your name, along with Rune scales, it has been decades since I saw such wonderful markings as yours, they are like golden runes, quite the lucky fellow aren't you?"_.

 _Carnage Runescales of the Stormrage Clan_

 _Is this your name?_

 _ **Yes/**_ _No_

 _You have reached Level 100_

 _You can evolve into a higher species._

 _The requirements for a unique variation has been met._

 _Do you wish to evolve into this unique variation?_

 _ **YES!, This is perfect for you, ohohoho, Grandbabies incoming for sure**_ _/_ _No_

With the last strength Magnus had left before the darkness claims his conscience, the recently baptized Carnage Runescales, sighed in defeat and just went with the flow, these last nine days have been a bit too much, and a bit of rest will be welcome. Still, Carnage was curious what he was going to evolve into, was this part of the natural cycle of this world? it was different for sure, alas, it has been quite the adventure since the beginning.

Now, if he could only find some mead, his life will be complete.

 **End Chapter.**

 **Character Info:**

 **Name:**

Carnage "Carn" Runescales of the Stormrage Clan.

 **Race:**

Kobold lvl 100- Evolving into Unique Variant

 **Unique Skills:**

-Circle of Usurpation: Much like the Authority, Carn can steal a Skill/Authority/Trait from the body of a defeated enemy, but only if it has been defeated by him.

-Divinity´s Bane: As former Devil King, Carn is the bane of any divine spellcaster or divine creature.

-We want grandbabies!- Pandora and Epimeteo, wanted grandbabies to spoil, like it or not, Carn would have a harem.

 **Usurped Skills/Traits/Abilities/etc:**

 **Skills:**

-Pyrokinetic: Carn can create and manipulate natural fire.

-Webbing: Carn can generate natural webbing of three colors steel, gold and red, he can project it from fingertips, mouth, tail tip and ass.

 **Blessings:**

-Red Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the red head of Tiamat, Carn domain over fire, is way superior to the rest of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Green Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the green head of Tiamat, Carn is the best poisoner of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

 **Traits:**

-Spit Poison: Carn can spit poison of varying virulence.

-Poisonproof: Carn is immune to all natural poison and highly resistant against magical poisoning

-Walk Walls: As a spider, Carn can walk barehanded/footed over non-slippery/wet surfaces

-Spiderkin: All Spiders considers Carn one of them, thanks to the effect of the [We want Grandbabies] bless, all female Arachnes found Carn specially Alluring.

-Stone Mimetic: Took the appearance, texture, and smell of the surrounding rocks, but not his hardness.

-Fireproof: Carn is immune to all kind of natural fire and highly resistant against magical fire.

-Blindsight: Perfect, 360º sight at 10 meters, no matter the conditions.

-Stone carving claws: 6 inches long nails capable of cutting and carving stone with easiness.


	2. Talon

**2- Talon**

The first thing that Carnage thought once he awoke from the darkness that claimed him after the battle in the underground caves, was that he was feeling way better than he should and that he was going to find Pandora and pinch her checks until she said uncle; as payback for the bloody pranks that she was pulling one after another on him with the [We want Grandbabies] bless gift or whatever.

However, as soon as Carn got back to consciousness, his [Blindsight] trait; usurped from the mole thing; show a picture of the room on where he was resting after the battle. His trait only reached around thirty feet, but it was enough to cover the entire surface of the room. It was about twelve plus twelve feet wide and ten feet tall until the crude stone ceiling (4X4 meters wide with a 3 meters distance to the ceiling), without any window and only a torch near the entrance of the room.

Carn was comfortably laying on a big hammock that holds his new body with easiness, covered by a rustic fur as a blanket; Carn couldn't recognize the animal but it was quite warm and pleasant to the touch and felt quite good. With a quick look at his new body, Carn noticed that he was taller than the Kobold form, about six feet and half tall, more or less. The color scheme of his scales was a gunmetal gray, golden runes till the back, even in his long tail; and his red marking was still the same.

His jaw was a bit shorter than as kobold, but now, the jaw was stronger and fill to the brim with a row of fangs, his tongue was a large appendage of eight inches long and thick as the tongue of a cow. Carn couldn't see if his eyes were the same, but touching his head, he realized that he had three little horns; at the front and the sides of his forehead, acting as a natural crow of some sort; surrounding a little mane of shoulder length, thick, red hair.

 _[Lizardman Lvl 1 Overlord Variant]._

That was the mental title Carn had about his new body, although he could see nothing more on his title; Carn could felt that blessings of Tiamat were there, along with all the Usurped powers and the new abilities and skills that he had as Lizardman of this unique variation. The battle against the Arachne and the other Kobolds has truly rewarded with some seriously useful abilities, especially the webbing thing, he can create his own threads now. They look strong but they had the texture of silk, even if he couldn't break them by force and had to cut it with his [Stone Carving Claws], now those were evolved into two twelve inches long (thirty centimeters) stingers that grow from his forearm into twin stingers in each arm. Those could do a lot of damage.

Not really in a hurry, and enjoying the little buzz that Carn was feeling from the evolution into a powerful species; Thanks Pandora for the evolution, the Kobold body was a bit constricting and limited for his tastes; Carn started to familiarize himself with the changes his body. He was stronger and sturdier now, his scales were like a natural scale mail all over his body. Taking in and out his stingers, he realized that they seem to be allocated in his forearms, near the bones. Spinning some threads was fun, even if he had serious difficulties at the beginning to do not entangle himself like a fly in the middle of a spider web, and he could make clothes with it, the clothes were a bit crude, but without any sewing instruments, little can do Carn about it. A golden and red Kilt for protecting the crotch was the result of an hour of spinning and testing.

On a side note, Carn had the anatomy of a reptile, his penis has retracted inside a protected sack in the groin, curious, he has never felt something like this, although, this Lizardmen race reproductive instinct was a seasonal one. Contrary to humans and other races, who were on heat all days, Lizardmen entered in a state of heat, around once a year and mate with the nearest female they could find. That being said, nothing prevented a Lizardman to get intimate with females or other races whose heats were more numerous or continuous.

Raising from the comfortable hammock, Carn stretched his new body; he was not sure if this buzz and glorious sensation was common after evolving, but right now, it was welcome after all the shit he had to go through the cave trials. The Swampmist Clan has rigged it to hell, with the help of the Arachne, who seemed to be a Priestess of the Deity that shared the name with the race, Arachne. If it was similar to what Carn remembers as Campione, Arachne hated the other gods of her Pantheon with a passion. Her tale was a tragic one after she won a contest with Athena, the bitter goddess turned the poor lass into a half spider, half woman form.

Still, now he was the Chosen one of two heads of Tiamat, Red and Green, fire and poison, respectively. Carn knew how to create, manipulate and mix poison that he had no previous knowledge before, in fact, he was convinced that he could change the composition of his [Spit poison] trait, into all kind of venoms, from paralytic poison to deadly concoctions. Well, anything goes in the path of survival and raising to the top. However, Carn was sure that the two blessing is going to bring him tremendous headaches, later in the future. There is a thing about being an overachiever, that would bring all kind of shit over your head, and Carn was right in that path.

Scratching the scales of his neck, the door of the room suddenly opened and another grayscaled, tall Lizardman entered into the room. He was as tall as Carnage, however, there as a hunching pose in his movements, most of his frame was covered by a thick cape with a cowl; a black cloth embroidered with green runes that glow slightly in the little light that the torch provided.

"Well, aren't you really unique?", hissed as a laughter the newcomer with a cracked tone, revealing his old age. "As soon as we got you out of the Trials, you evolved into a powerful and never registered before Variant of Lizardman".

The cape opened to Carn could see a slim but still strong Lizardman of silver-gray scales with similar markings to him, but instead of golden, they were blue, under the jaw of the Lizardman grow a beard that reached his chest, hanging like the beard of a goat, and picked up into a braid.

"I am Blue Thundercaller of the Stormrage Clan". Presented himself the older Lizardman. "And I am going to be your guide for the next days, as we see what good can you do to the Clan".

"Greetings, Thundercaller", saluted Carn, standing in attention. All about this Lizardman spoke of Carn about the Thurls, Northerner Magicians, that taught him the secrets of the world, wise men that knew things that the mortal lot didn't know or directly couldn't recognize. "I will be in your care, then".

With a crooked smile and a gesture, Blue exited the room, followed buy Carnage as the older Lizardman guided him in the caves that represented the home of the Stormrage Clan.

In the beginning, Carn was a bit taken back, with a name as Stormrage, he was expecting a way more sky open lair for the den of the Clan, however, the caves were storehouses and the living quarters of the Clan. Lizardmen are a cold-blooded race; with notable exceptions like the Blizzardhowl Clan, who thrive in freezing conditions; and they tend to get underground to keep the heat as much as they can, the entire lair was near the domain of the Brimstone Clan, who lived in a Volcano, and the heat of the earth was very appreciated by the Stormrage Clan. However, the Clan passes most of the time outside, as they were naturally attracted to open spaced and clear skies.

It becomes quite a shocking revelation to see that they had entire stables of lesser dragon species. Wyrms, Dracs, Wyverns, all those lesser dragons were used by the Stormrage Clan as mounts to their air forces. The Clan was specialized in aerial combat, as they had an affinity for the sky, it was pretty common that once the members of the Clan has evolved past the Lizardman state, all of them develop their own set of wings, but in any case, most of the Clan were very good riders.

Blue Thundercaller was one of those odd cases that were still in the Lizardman state, mostly because he has part of a magical variant that provided the Clan with very needed magical assistance. It would be odd for the old Lizardman to even evolve, but Carn suspected that Thundercaller didn't really give two shits about evolution. The older Lizardman was powerful, respected and has found joy in his duty, little more can anyone ask from the life.

In all, and after saw how the rest of the Clan that they pass by, reacted to Thundercaller, Carn become more and more convinced that he was some kind of magician; perhaps a druid or a priest of some sort, that brings to the Clan resources that were impossible to found in the mountain that they had taken as den.

Thundercaller explained that the Stormrage Clan was one of the five Great Clans that represent the military power of the Dragon Empire under the Goddess Tiamat, Mother of all Dragons and Queen of the Ocean. The Stormrage Clan was the one that were born under the protection of the Blue head, representing the sky, The Brimstone Clan under the protection of the Red head, representing fire, Swampmist Clan, Green head, poison and nature, Blizzardhowl, White head, ice, and the Grimmwhisper, Black head, representing death and decay. All the lesser dragon species were born under one of those clans, clawing their path, all the way up to evolve into a real Dragon and join The Goddess Tiamat in the Queen´s Den were the Dragon rulers of the country reside and decide the actions and politics of the Empire.

Carn asked about his own unique condition, that he did not fit in any of those categories, but Thundercaller, brushed aside his worries, assuring him that he was simply a variant, a more powerful or specialized evolution. It was rare, as they required more than simply level up to the level 100, and no one knew what kind of requirements were need to make it, but it was not something that out of the ordinary.

The only odd thing was that Carn was different from any other variant that the Clan has ever registered. Carn took a risk and told Thundercaller that he was a [Lizardman Overlord], but the older Lizardman did not show any shock, just widening one of his eyes; Lizardman equivalent of raising an eyebrow; and said that as ominous as it sounds, they already have a [Lizardman King] among this batch of hatchlings, along another couple of variants, so it was not something to worry about.

In fact, Thundercaller was a variant himself, a variant of Lizardman called [Lizardman Magic Caster], it was a variant of Lizardman with an affinity for spells and magic. Carn was very interested in the matter of magic and how the magic work in this world, giving Thundercaller the impression that his [Lizardman Overlord] could be a magically attuned variant too.

In his previous world, all magic essentially called to different deities and divine powers, fueled by the powers of the magicians, as Campiones, they had godly magical reserves and could cast a spell in that scale. In this new world, he didn't know how magic works, as Carn has only seen the Arachne cast a spell, and it was of divine nature, as his [Divine´s Bane] skill activated, giving him quite the influx of power when he battled the Arachne priestess and her Kobold minions.

Thundercaller said that he would be delighted to see if he had magical talent later, as the Clan could always use more Spellcasters, those are always in high demand as there are little of them with real talent beyond one path of magic. Later Thundercaller would explain the path of magics remark, for the moment he kept explain Carnage how the Stormrage Clan works and what where they expecting from him from now on.

The Five Clans were essentially the armies and military arm of the Dragon Empire, currently, they were engaged in a long war with the Southern Empire, a conglomeration of city-states that joined under the banner of a Demigod called Jusar a thousand years ago, and whose descendants; and fellow Demigods; keep it going, the VIII Emperor was the one that started the war.

The Southern Empire has been expanding quite aggressively lately, engaging in a quick and brutal war with the Asgard Kingdom; where the Empire´s Legions were butchered, between the hostile terrain of the Kingdom and his military forces it was an absolute loss for the Empire; and the Dragon Empire. Tiamat was expecting a quick and ruthless win as it happened in the Asgard Kingdom, but the Southern Empire unleashed their ace under their sleeve. Myrmidons, legions, and legions of those blasted ant-men.

Myrmidons, bipedal ant-men who looks pretty much like bald, strong, human men but with antennae, compound eyes, chitin armor in chest, arms and legs and three nailed fingers in each hand, two fingers and a thumb. They are surprisingly strong, resistant and absolutely relentless. They were harder to kill than the average human soldier, as they had a very high pain threshold and could take quite the punishment before they finally collapse and die. Luckily they were quite vulnerable to fire and electricity, and bug poison works like a charm on them. This last part has been puzzling everyone for a time, but the Dragon Empire took it in stride and use it in the war.

The war has been on for about thirty years; dragging some allies from each side. The Dragon Empire trusted his right flank to the Asgard Kingdom, as they were united in their hate to the Southern Empire and the All-Father Vidar has been a good friend of Tiamat for hundreds of years. The Southern Empire more than allies, what brought to the battle was slaves, they had a very well funded and expanded slavery system and business that allow them to enslave practically all the races they could their hands on, transforming entire countries into their slave-kingdoms. They did something like this with the Dark Elves, previously know as the Desert Elves. Their little but beautiful desert kingdom was ransacked to the ground and all their population turned into slaves. In a similar manner, practically half of the Southern Empire forces was composed of slaves from those subjugated kingdoms, making his Imperial Legions quite the variate bunch.

As Clans, the Five Clans were surprisingly independent, they will obey Tiamat´s will, of course, but how do they managed to get what Tiamat wanted, is all to them. Carn noticed that there was a trait that was so different from his human past that he was having troubles wrapping his head around it.

It was not a secret that humans are greedy and backstabbers, in order to raise themselves into a position of power and privilege, they had no problem in betraying anyone in their path. Regicide and other government rebellions were a very common thing. However, this was not the case with the Dragon Kingdom; they were a meritocracy, always eager to prove themselves, evolve and become a Dragon, the maximum achievement of their race, joining the Queen´s Den as rulers at the side of Tiamat. Only one Dragon has surged in the last seven decades, and the war has already cost the lives of twelve of them, so the Queen´s Den was never overpopulated. They lack any political greed, they were happy with what they are, but always strive forward to become something more. It was confusing for a human-like Carnage was in the past; alas, for his Lizardman mind, it has all the sense of the world.

Back with the Five Clans, they were now neck deep in the war, and the Stormrage Clan was suffering from a nasty series of stumps, from the plague that has affected several of the races that they used as mounts, to the slow and weak batches of hatchlings that they have been experimenting in the last years. This last batch has been quite the silver lining in a cloudy season, especially between Carnage and the other survivors, that has demonstrated impressive talents and had evolved in less than two weeks since they were born.

Fortunately, the newcomers; after defeating the treachery of the Swampmist Clan, something that is going to cost them dearly, specially when the Dragons in the Queen´s Den got an ear of an Arachne Priestess working with them; could bring back the strength of the Clan and make then shine as they did in the past, before this series of setbacks cost them dearly.

After this explanation of how the things were, Thundercaller continues to guide Carnage to the rest of the complex. As soon as they continue to explore it, Carnage soon realized that the main bulk of the Clan was out of the mountain, otherwise, the massive residential complex and the humongous stables would have not been so empty, not to mention that he had the sensation that his evolution has put him on a rank above the common Lizardmen.

Telling his suspicions to Thundercaller, he laughed and confirmed it. Usually, the common Lizardmen is not very clever, strong, durable and tenacious, but they lack flexibility and that is the leaders of the Lizardmen come in and turns their kin into fearsome foes. Unfortunately, in this war, they were fighting someone that it was a bug-like mirror of their own.

It didn't take long for them to see all the key spots of the Clan´s Den, Carnage paid special attention to the forge, the library, and the non-flying mounts. Something tells him that his gray scales meant that he was not going to be part of the flying forces, surely magic could do the trick, but even when he was a Campione and had complete domain over the Storm, he liked to fight with his feet on the ground.

As they moved inside the caves, Thundercaller reunited with other similarly cloaked older Lizardmen, who were acting as guides of other evolved Lizardmen, as soon as they get with the other group, Carn smiled widely and saluted to one of the bigger specimen of Lizardmen, with sky blue scales and a complex azure colored lightning bolt pattern all over his body. He has recognized Sparky as soon as he put his eyes on him.

"Well meet, Sparky, it has been a while", laughed Carn saluting the other Lizardmen who frowned for the nickname, but his fury soon abated as he recognized the unique scaled pattern of the Lizardman who was speaking to him.

"Unnamed? is that you, you clever bastard?". Laughter as well the tall and strong Lizardmen, moving closer to him. "By Tiamat, I didn't expect you to survive, the last thing I saw of you, was you disappearing into the deep caves, hunting a phantom".

"Ha, not so phantom, a bloody Arachne and those spider´s ass lovers of the Swampmist Clan", snorted Carn with humor. Truly it has been too close to be comfortable, but he was alive and he has evolved, so it ended well for him. On a side note, evolution really has done wonders for Sparky´s mind; if, as Thundercaller said, most of the Lizardman were not on the sharpest tools of the toolbox.

"Wait, you are Carnage?, I will be dammed, should have expected it", shook his head with slight amazement Sparky. "But I am not Sparky, you cocky asshole, I am Storm, told you in the cave".

"So you did name yourself?", this time was Carnage´s turn to wide one of his eyes in surprise. "Didn't know it was possible, I was named Carnage after they rescued me from the hellhole where I fought the Arachne and her little pets", shrugged Carnage like it was an everyday occurrence.

"Is not the usual, but if one of the hatchlings demonstrates a special interest in the name, they are usually allowed to keep it", nodded Storm. "Although, I am pretty sure, that it has more to do with the fact that the guides like Thundercaller or Shadowhisper are too bloody annoyed to name all of the hatchlings and they just roll with it". Laughed Storm in humor.

Thundercaller just smiled at the jab and shrugged his shoulders, but the other guide, Shadowhisper, just frowned under her cape and huffed under her breath, she does seem to be annoyed to be playing guide for the younger Lizardmen. With a quick count, Carnage realized that there were about nine Lizardman present, all of the supposedly from this year batch and variants of the usual muscle heads that was the common evolution. It was interesting to see what kind of special traits and skills will these ones have. It was a safe assumption to say that Storm is possible the holder of the [Blue blessing of Tiamat], as Carnage was now the Red and Green chosen one, however, the other Lizardman must have special skills to be given this treatment. Well, he was going to see soon, as the Guides were to spoke among themselves for a little and soon divided the group of nine Lizardman.

A bit surprised, Carnage realized that he has been left alone, as the rest were moved in couples and a trio; Storm in the last one; leaving him with Thundercaller who eyed him warily. Carnage stood his gaze; he really would like to know what kind of eyes does he had now, and keep silent, the older Lizardman was pondering something, and Carnage was waiting to see what kind of decision is Thundercaller going to make about him.

"Follow me". Finally said the Lizardman and Carn followed Thundercaller without a complain, curious about what Thundercaller could have in mind about his position in the Stormrage Clan forces.

They moved into the caves where the majority of the magical works had a place, not far from the annex, that had the forges and where he could see dozens of Lizardmen and Kobolds working in the forges to keep the Clan armed and ready for the war. Much as Carn expected, the majority of the weapons were spears, swords, axes, and shields; with little to none armor, except pieces, that protect the few weak spots of the natural scales of the Lizardmen. Kobolds, on the other hand, do seems to have extensively used of light armors made of some kind of leather and the scales of the bigger mounts that the Stormrage Clan had at their disposal.

No modern weapons, no firearms of any kind. Pity, Carnage loved firearms, they there powerful, loud and had a serious intimidating factor. On the other hand, magic seems to be very common, and a sorcerer of any kind, tossing fireballs around could be as dangerous as any firearm.

They entered into a room that contained a lot of arcane tools and paraphernalia, possible the place where the spellcasters of the Clan work their magic, especially now that they were at war, investigating and developing new spells that could turn the tide must have become a must. Thundercaller went for one of the wardrobes that contained a lot of different trinkets, from lamps with a tiny flame inside to a bottle that looks like had a piece of night slithering inside.

"You have put us in quite the conundrum", sighed Thundercaller, tacking several things from the wardrobe and setting on one of the work tables. "You are not from any know variants, you are a unique one, so we have to test all from scratch and see what kind of talents your variant has".

Well, Carn has to admit that it was blood sense, It was the first time the Clan has seen someone like him, so they will have to see what exactly an Overlord variant means, not to mentions that Carn was; according to the evolution messages; and Unique variant, due to some unknown requirements that he seems to have completed. Not that he had no bloody idea about them. Carn evolved and that was it.

"Today we are going to see if your variant has any talent with magic, tomorrow you will be tested by one of our Combat masters and the next day you will be taken to the stables and see if you link with a mount". Resumed Thundercaller what was going to be his schedule for the next days, it was not bad, Carn could use it to learn a lot more about this world and how his new body works.

Before they tested anything, Thundercaller gave him a briefing about how the Arcane magic system works, one of the four systems that regulate the magical side of the world.

The Arcane, the Divine, the Kinesis and the Rituals.

This four compiled all the supernatural skills of the world. Carnage suspected that [Circle of Usurpation] was of the Divine system, and all the traits that he has taken were something that he should have Not be able to take, that those were natural things, that were out of the "supernatural" system of the world, but he keep it quiet, it was a way too good ace under his sleeve to reveal it.

The Arcane system was divided into ten main branches, [Fire, Earth, Water, Sky, Abyss, Sun, Life, Death, Mind and Body], however, there was infinite sub-branches, developed with the years by all kind of spellcasters, like [Poison, Ice, Moon] and other variations of the main ten.

The Arcane system was the more flexible of the four because it was a very common thing that a spellcaster had an idea, and just went ahead and created a new branch, still, all of them had roots in one of the main ten, so they call it sub-branches and be done with it. Each living being, with an ounce of talent in magic, is born with an innate affinity for one of the main ten making them know spells of that branch practically by instinct and could learn through effort, study and practice, any other branch or develop his own.

The [Divine Domains] system was a bit simpler and complicated at the same time. Each deity posses a series of Domains that represent what do they govern over, as Priests and Priestesses of those deities, they had access to those domains, and considering the number of deities that are out there, trying to make a list of all the Domains was a fool's errand. In all, each follower of a deity can call out divine spells related to the Domains of its patron deity and that was it in a nutshell.

The Kinetic system was powers that were born from the mind and body of the living beings, their will manifested, imposing their will over the physical realm. [Pyrokinetic, Cryokinetic, Soma, Telepath, Telekinesis] and so went the list on, basically mind over matter would be the resume. However, is very rare to find Kinetics, as they are born that way and can not be trained; Dragon Empire was the exception to the rule, as practically all the Five Clans had some kind of inborn Kinetic power inside them.

Carn widened an eye, realizing where the [Pyrokinetic] skill that he got from the Brimstone Clan came from, that means that his Clan could have a measure of [Electrokinetic powers]; surely Storm was off the charts in that department, and following that logic, his Usurped skills should make a hell of a [Pyrokinetic] out of him; but even if it was the case, he did not have any [Electrokinetic] skills, not that he complained, his own [Circle of Usurpation] was bloody better.

Last but not least, the [Ritual] system. This was the more complex, taxing and frustrating of all. It comprised of hundreds and hundreds of methods to achieve the desired effect, it varies from simple, menial task, to alter the geography of a country, all depends on the power, complexity, and detail of the ritual.

All kind of things falls under this category, like protections over structures, enchanting objects, and persons, summoning all kind of supernatural beings, like angels, demons and thousands of other spirits. After Carn learned about the [Ritual] system, he knew that it was no different from the Sacred Runes that his people had, drawing them over objects and persons and calling for the aid of the gods, was a ritual itself.

Then, Thundercaller revealed a piece of information that made Carn use all his force of will to do not cackle in mad laughter. Arcane, Divine and Ritual system source of power was the soul, meanwhile, the Kinetic system feeds on the will and body.

Carnage had the soul of the oldest and strongest Campione of an era.

After the explanation and Carnage shivering a little trying not to show a crooked smile and laughing like a mad villain, scaring the shit out of anyone in the neighborhood, they proceed to test the affinity of Carn on the Arcane system, the specialization that Thundercaller possessed as [Lizardman Magic caster], and once again, Carn had to suppress his laughter at the dumbfounded expression of Thundercaller, when it was clear that Carn had an affinity with all the Ten main branches of the Arcane System. As soon as they started to test him, a box materialized in Carn´s mind, soon followed by another, explaining the origin of such a bloody miracle.

[God of Magic] and [Oldest soul].

One from Pandora, allowing him to learn all kinds of magic and the other from his Campione soul, who granted him Godly power magical reserves. It did come as a surprise to him too, but he managed to compose himself and do not stand there slaw jacked and just show a cocked smirk, leaving Thundercaller trying to make heads or tails about what, in Tiamat´s name, was going on here.

But Thundercaller recovered quickly and shaking his head a little, then eyed Carn; and boy, he did not like that look at all, was way to similar to when his oldest masters were about to put him into a hellish training that would leave him begging for a swift end at the end of the day; and smiled widely, showing the predatory fang that all the Lizardman had.

"I will be dammed, this is not what I was expecting", hissed in laughter Thundercaller.

Signaling Carn to wait where he was, he started to put back all the trinkets into the wardrobe from where they have come from and instead took out a jagged scroll, as soon as Carn put his eyes on him, he knew that it was made of human skin, the faint and dry smell of blood flickered in his nose too.

He did not care about it, perhaps because he was a Lizardman, and saw humans as little more than cattle, or perhaps because as Campione, he has done way worst things than skin a bastard and use his blood to create a parchment. A flash of memory, made him remember the time that he squeezed a man to death and with the juice, he tattooed a big fuck you in the back of his widow, so their King knew that Carn was not in the mood for any foolish around his turf.

Good times, good times.

"This is a ritual, a minor one, yet tremendously useful", explained Thundercaller. "It allows you to summon a Servant, a spirit made of pure magic energy that is totally useless in battle but will act as your steward, cleaning crew and warehouse".

"That sound useful", commented Carn, "why is a minor one? I can tell that having such a helper around is nothing to scoff off, especially if it could store your most valuable goods out of greedy hands".

"A good question", Thundercaller did seem pleased for the observation of Carn; but he supposed that, considering that most of the Lizardmen knuckleheads all the time, when Thundercaller found that a sliver of intelligence, he will nurture it.

"It has to do with the power needed to summon it". Answered the older Lizardman to the question. "The power needed to call in for the Servant is quite big, none of the non-specialized Lizardman can pull it off, and even high leveled Dragonkin; a very coveted evolution for our kin but hard to achieve; struggled to summon it, and even then, the Servant is not very capable and must be guided constantly, and had little storage capability".

"Humm...".Hummed Carnage. "I take you to want me to learn and perform this ritual". Honestly, Carn knew he could do it, he has the talent and the power, but powerful eagles always hid their talons; especially in his case, [Circle of Usurpation] was not something that he wanted to be revealed anytime soon.

"By tomorrow morning, I will guide you to the Combat Master of the Lizardmen", nodded Thundercaller. "I expect you, to have your own Servant by then".

Carn widened his eyes, this crazy old lizard was seriously trying his best to made him show his cards. By Pandora, what does this old wanker want? Carn was biding his time, slow and careful learning and building his power; showing off was not among his plans, that was childish and foolish.

"By Pan..err Tiamat, are you out of your mind Thundercaller?, I am no spell caster yet, and you want me to try my hand at a ritual that higher and more powerful kin has failed to do so?". That has been close, he almost blurts out the name of his adopted mom, without checking out if Pandora was a goddess around this parts and how was she seen, Carn would keep her name to himself.

Thundercaller did catch the slip-up, but the older Lizardman knew better and was conscious that Carnage was a unique individual. The older Lizardman has seen practically every possible variation their race has to offer, and thanks to serving a couple of decades in the front lines during the first two decades of the war against the Southern Empire, he has seen practically all the evolution and variants that several races of the main continent had, and Carnage was nothing like he has ever seen before.

Sure, that new Lizardman; Strom; had all the markings of being a very exceptional breed; specially considering he was a [Lizardman King] and had the most impressive talent for [Sky magic] and [Electrokinesis] that Thundercaller has seen in years; but Carnage was a mystery, and frankly, Thundercaller loved mysteries, it was all the most satisfying once you resolve it.

"I have the utmost confidence that you will manage to achieve it, by tomorrow morning", dismissed the protest of Carnage with a waving of his claw. "Now, in order to be fair, I recommend you to read all you could about rituals in the Library, I will speak to the librarian to let you study at your heart's content, now, hop to it, youngling, you are burning precious time". Waved Thundercaller him to get to it.

Knowing that he had nothing to do here, Carnage picked up the scroll and grumbling under his breath about tyrannical and unreasonable old lizards, he set route to the library. This clever bastard has put in a very dangerous situation. If he achieved the ritual, it will show the older Lizardman that Carnage´s talent for the magical systems was out of the charts, even the most difficult of them, the Rituals; should he fail, on the other hand, it would show Thundercaller that Carnage was not as special as he thought, and would reduce the options of increasing his power that he should have otherwise.

In resume, showoff and achieve something that even evolved individuals have failed, or fail it, and be sent to mingle with the rest of the Lizardmen that were considered members of the clan but part of the main bulk of the Clan forces, with little to none chances to evolve into variants and more powerful kins, unless they achieve something impressive in the battlefield.

Carnage knew that as soon as he put his hand into a real weapon, or even better a forge, he would have no problems to become a terror in the battlefield. With the strength of the Lizardmen kin, swinging around a good sword or a fine battleax is going to be a pleasure. But he didn't want to be part of the main forces, far from him to disrespect them; he actually respected them a lot. Foot soldiers are the backbone of any army, without them, any army was screwed.

But perhaps it would do some good to gain some trusted allies among the Lizardmen warriors and to see how the Dragon Empire fares in the battlefield. Even if they were relatively humanoid and bipedal, the tactics of the Dragon Empire could be ones that he has not seen ever, and that would lead to some serious problems if he had to fight or leader a force against the Southern Empire.

Snorting to himself, Carnage shook his head and continue walking to the library, he was thinking too much, at the end of the day, he has to admit that he was an overachiever and hated to lose any challenge. Even as Campione, one of his traits was that he never backed down any challenge; that lead him into some serious headaches, but by Pandora did they worth of the trouble.

With his determination resumed, Carnage reached the library and soon started to immerse himself in the lecture of all the books and tomes of magic that he could put his claws on. Blinking once, he did notice the little fact that he knew how to read. That was a tremendously pleasant surprise, perhaps it has something to do with the evolution?, or all races shared a common language?, Carnage knew that Campiones had among their blessings, the ability to understand and read all languages, but he doubted it would be a common thing here. Back in Midgard, a common language was a bloody utopia, no nation would accept that, but a lot of merchants had Latin and Saxon as their languages. Well, anyhow, the rune-like writing of the Dragon Empire was nice, it was similar to the Runes he knew as Northerner but a notable difference here and there.

He devoured the knowledge, it was easy, he didn't understand where the people saw the problem in the Rituals, it was a work of patience, adequate materials and unrelenting determination to get to the end. It was just the same as working on a forge, now that he thought about it. Carn always had a hand for the forge; forging all kind of items, from farming tools to prodigious weapons; Rituals were just the same, you get what you need, prepare the location and start working, patiently hammering, heating, cooling and grinding, until the metal bent to your will and took the shape you need.

[God of Magic] made it, even more, easier, and before he realized, Carnage passed the entire of the daylight and way past the evening, reading in the library. Rituals were a fascinating theme and if he was correct, it had the right mixture of art and knowledge that called to him. Found the adequate ritual and the possibilities were bloody endless; although, he understood why very few devoted to them, the magical power needed to even backup; the so-called; medium rituals was astronomic, with several spell caster pouring all they had in the ritual array. Suppressing the need to cackle, Carnage knew that it was not going to be his case, with his Campione soul backing his spells, the soul power depending systems were going to be at his command.

The thud of a plate of meat and a tankard of some liquid near him took him out of his thoughts and when the smell of the meat reached his nostrils, Carnage realized that he was bloody hungry and thirsty, and he has been way too long lost in the reading. Blinking at the plate and the tankard, he saw Storm looking at him with a smirk and munching on his own piece of meat; the roasted leg of a goat, judging from the smell and the appearance.

"By Tiamat, Carnage, it way past noon, everybody has already retreated to their dens, what, on Tiamat´s name, are you still doing here?". Sat Storm in a nearby stool, resting his arm over the table, ripping a big piece of meat from the roasted leg.

It was a good thing, the Book Keeper was not around, the older and grumpy female Lizardman would have rip Storm´s balls out for eating near the books, with claws full of grease and leaving crumbs wherever Storm go. But Carnage was going to forgive him, Storm was a bloody angel that has brought him food and booze, he owned the [Lizardman King] that much.

"That old wanker of Thundercaller has tossed an impossible challenge to me", grumbled Carnage, leaving the book at a side, and cleaning a space on the table and proceed to wolf down the meat that Storm has been so kind to deliver to him.

"Ha, not really a surprise". Shrugged Storm. "All the Guides, of the nine that survived the challenge, have been testing what exactly we can do, and all of them expect us to be bloody prodigies". Storm took a chug from his own tankard. "I have been all day practicing both my [Electrokinesis] and my [Sky magic], I had to keep it until I almost pass out of exhaustion".

"Aye, they expect a lot of us", nodded Carnage, chewing fiercely on his cooked meat. "But after seeing how the Clan has been falling down this last years, it is not really a surprise". Commented Carnage, trying to see if the Guides has shared the same knowledge with all the evolved Lizardmen.

"The war with the Southern Empire, bunch of pink cretins", snorted Storm crushing bones under his jaws. "That Jusar Emperor of them, the VIII I think, is nothing but an ambitious fool".

"More chances for us to evolve into powerful variants", pointed out Carnage. "War always brought powerful warriors and beasts in the open, perfect to achieve glorious feats".

Storm stopped chewing for a moment and look at Carnage with surprise, he didn't think about it from that perspective. In truth, it was just as Carnage has said, a war brings forth the exceptional individuals of each Kingdom, as they were called to defend and protect their homelands. Really, it was the perfect chance to look for powerful individual and unique beasts, conquering new lands, acquiring unique trophies and rewards; with each one of those feats, they will evolve faster than in peace times and could evolve into more powerful variants of their races.

Who would have thought, the war was good for them, after all.

"Ha, I knew I was right, you are a clever bastard". Laughed Storm. "Even in the caves, you always were two steps ahead of everyone".

"Not really", dismissed Carnage with a laugh of his own; Storm was starting to become something akin to a friend. "I was as terrified as anyone else, but I keep it hidden better".

"Nah, I was too dumb to realize the danger", drink another shot of his jar Storm, "and do not think for a second that I do not remember how you dragged me by the nostrils even if I believed myself as the Alpha, By Tiamat, I owe you my life, I would have perished in the caves, if it wasn't for your help and cunning".

"Consider the debt sated". Snorted Carnage emptying his plate of meat and taking the tankard, really enjoying the taste of the red liquid, possibly a wine of some kind, he would really have loved a cold mead, but this will do. "I was seriously starving, I am truly grateful for the food and the booze, Storm". Changed the theme of the conversation Carnage, the last thing he needed now, was to Storm to remember how he has treated him like a dumb child back in the caves. At that point, Sparky, the electric Kobold, was little more than a useful and funny minion to sacrifice.

"Ha, It was fun to see you engrossed in a book", shrugged Storm, "but is a tiny payment for my life, and I will need of your unique sarcasm and guts in the future".

"How so?", now Carnage was a bit surprised and really didn't like where the conversation was going. It seems that Storm remembered and Carnage has made quite the impression in the [Lizardman King]. "We are still hatchlings, no matter how fast have we evolved, and if one has to pay attention to the ramblings of the Guides, a bunch of arrogant youngsters with little sense and too much arrogance".

"You know, that "I am nothing special" attitude could have work with the rest", eyed Storm him, with a crooked smile. "But I saw you on the caves, I saw how you always knew what to do and how to survive, not to mention, that little disappearance trick of you and the poison spitting thing; that was the second time you directly saved my life, by the way".

" _Pandora curse my arrogance"._ Cursed Carnage in his mind. _"He was conscious and knew that I have powers that are not normal, there goes my humble acting"._

"And I should be your little bitch from now on, or you will reveal it to the rest?", asked Carnage with a tone that; literally, made a layer of frost cover the surface of their drinks.

"Peace, Carnage". Raised his claws in surrender Storm. "Nothing of the sort, well something in those lines, but not like that, Tiamat protect me, far from it, I knew very well that trying to pull an Alpha attitude with you is like taming a Wyvern with cuddles and hugs; a very bad idea".

"You have lost me, Storm", Carnage was a bit more tranquil, Storm respected him, that was good, but he didn't understand what he did expect from him. "If you are not going to blackmail me into your servitude, but I will be under you, frankly, I don't see where are you going".

Storm left his tankard over the table, and took a more comfortable position, for a fellow Lizardman, it was clear that the young Lizardman was conflicted a bit stressed for something.

"You, as I am a variant", started Storm on a common ground, "and I take that Thundercaller was so dumbfounded for whatever he discovered during your test of attitude in the Four systems that he did forget to tell you about how the Talons and the hierarchy of the Lizardman".

"Talons?". That was a new term for Carnage, it was the first time that he eared it, although, now that the thought about it, in several of the books that he has read, they did mention Talon spellcasters, he suspected that it was a Lizardman variant, he was wrong, so it seems.

"I will get to it later", said Storm asking for a bit of patience on the matter. "As variants", he retakes the explanation of what he wanted, "we are a step over the common Lizardman, who were strong but not precisely brilliant, think of a calmer version of me from the caves", chuckled with humor Storm. "They are the main bulk of our forces, be it on the ground or riding the different mounts that we breed here".

"Point is, variants as usually trained and considered leaders and guides of the forces of the Clan", said Storm and Carnage widened an eye, he suspected something like that, especially with the [King] remark that Storm had on his variant and his own [Overlord] adding to his title. "And even among those variants, there are ones that practically marks you as commander and leader of the armies of the Stormrage Clan and by proxy, the Dragon Empire armies".

Ah, so that was it.

Carnage gets it now, Storm was way more clever than Carnage gave him credit for. Storm was a [Lizardman King], so he was looking out for who, among the nine survivors, would be adequate to accompany him as the future field commander of a piece of the forces of the Stormrage Clan in the war.

Carnage knew that from Storm´s perspective, Carnage was a wild card, and Storm wanted to have that card in his deck. Carnage understood and respect that foresight and cunning. After all, one of the lessons that he learned as Campione was that proper preparation prevents colossal screw-ups and humiliations. But even with that realization, Carnage knew, that Storm and he will be on opposite sides of a battlefield at some point, both were Chosen ones, and they will have to fight for the right and privilege to be the Consort of Tiamat. Although now that Storm was practically offering an alliance and partnership, Carnage´s original plan to use him as a coal mine canary about that Chosen one's business, was easier than ever. And Carnage would gain an ally and a possible friend, for those inevitable future rainy days to come.

"I am a [Lizardman King]", confessed Storm, with the tiny sliver of tiredness in his voice, not a bloody day, and the pressure that they have put on him, has even grated the nerves of a Lizardman. It was quite the feat, considering that they belong to a cold blood race. "I have been told, that I am going to be the leader of the armies of our Clan, and all leaders; and believe me, I am not the only [King] variant in the Clan´s den now; have or are swiftly recruiting talented Talons".

Carnage did not say anything, just took a chug from his tankard and waved Storm to keep talking; Storm has not said anything about being the Chosen one, perhaps he did not know about it. It was possible that thanks to his [Circle of Usurpation] Carnage had an advantage over the rest, as he knew what he Usurps and how it works, but as it has happened to [God of Magic], it has only activated when it was needed, not revealing itself until some conditions meet. It was a curious thing, that he would have to inquire about on a later date from the library or Thundercaller.

"Talons are basically retinues". Explained Storm what the Talon term meant, although Carnage was already expecting something along those lines. "Each Talon Leader tries to recruit three to four claws, individuals that are of the trust of the leader and mirror its own talents or plans".

"For example, a Stormrage Clan Talon, could be formed by variants that had an affinity for [Electrokinesis] or that had an innate talent to tame and ride Wyverlings", gave examples Storm of two of the Talons that he has seen on the outside as he was putting his [Elctrokinesis] to the limit. "But I am different, I need to create a Talon that could help me lead battles, and that´s where you enter into the equation".

"Once I evolved as [King], I got a skill or trait, I don't know how to call it, called [King´s wisdom], that essentially made me way more clever than any common Lizardman". There was a bit of amusement and embarrassment in that sentence. "After I received it, all my memories came together under a new perspective, and I have to confess that I am not proud of how dumb I was. Later, when I was spoken about the Talons packs, I remembered how you dragged me by the tail during all the trials; with me being none the wiser and still convinced that I gave the orders there; and how I wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for your help. In resume, I need you on my Talon".

"Storm, I am a [Lizardman Overlord]", simply answered Carnage to Storm, as soon as that got cleared, all the better. There can not be two kings in the same throne, sooner or later, there will be blood. "No one knows what the heck exactly that means, but I seriously doubt with a name like that, we are not going to but heads".

Storm blinked, scratched the scales of the tip of his tail and sighed with tiredness, but he soon recovered and taking another drink from his tankard, already low, Storm keep that expression of determination, convinced that his [King´s Wisdom] has hit the nail in the head.

"[Overlord] or not, you don't want to rule], argued back Storm, surprising Carnage a bit for the clever and insightful remark.

It was true after all, Carnage has not the slightest intentions of becoming king of anything, that was a fool´s job; all the kings had a bull´s eyes painted on their foreheads, and not only from outside enemies. In a society, as militarized as the Lizardman, kings were excepted to be exceptional and that means a lot of pressure over them, to be worthy of those expectations. Carnage gave the two-finger salute to that, he will do what he wanted, as he has always done; Campiones are irrationals beings like that, and his soul was the soul of a Campione.

"I saw in the caves, you could have beaten me to the ground and take the leadership; that would something that a ruler would do, but you acted differently, you left me to believe that I was calling the shots and instead you keep us both safe, feed and protected, without me none the wiser". Resumed Storm what has transpired in the caves where they both were toss as newborn Kobolds. "I need that mixture of ruthless, cunning and foresight; you may not want to be a King, but honestly, Tiamat has blessed you with all the traits of one hell of a right-hand man".

"You made a convincing case, Storm". Carnage has to admit it, credit when is due, Storm has changed from a dumber than a sack of rocks Kobold, to a cunning young king that Carnage liked a lot more. Far from being arrogant, Storm has taken the lessons of the caves to the heart and recognize when he has screwed up, and when he needs help.

"Hope so, I truly need a strong Talon, and you and the other two are my last chance before I have to wait a season for another batch of evolved Lizardman variants". Shrugged Storm, with all the cards on the table, honesty was the best policy when dealing with Carnage.

"Two?, there were nine variants this morning", pointed out Carnage.

"Specialized variants, three were Priests and Priestesses of Tiamat, the went to the temple of the peak of the Den as soon as their talent with the [Divine system] show itself up and two were [Tamers] variants and were taken by the mounts caretakers", quickly resumed Storm what were the destinies of more than half of the nine evolved Lizardmen.

"You, Rain Swiftjaws, Leaf Windtamer and I, were the last battle oriented Lizardman left, and I am not entirely sure about you, the Guides are quiet about you after Thundercaller said something to them". Named the other two Lizardman that he wanted in his Talon or that they were already are, and he was the only one left without a Talon.

That was a pretty clever maneuver, a Lizardman without a Talon, if he pretends to get on the field, was a lone wolf with too many enemies out of the Den to be comfortable with, in a sense, Storm has put him between the sword and the wall. Carnage´s respect from the recently acquired wisdom and intelligence of Storm grow up a notch.

"Rain and Leaf, what are they?", asked Carnage, who knew that at the end, he was going to be part of Storm´s Talon, so he wanted to know as much as he could of his possible new fellow Talon pack members.

"[Lizardman Swiftclaw Rider] and [Lizardman Pathfinder] for what they told me", informed Storm with hope hidden inside his voice. "Will that means that you will be part of my Talon?".

"Aye, you clever bastard", snorted Carnage and Storm widely smiled, showing all his fangs.

After that conversation, they simply chatted for a while, Storm shared some of his future plans with him, wanting the opinion and unique insight of Carnage about them. In all, Storm has drawn a bit sketchy plans; in one day it was not really a surprise; but they were solid and had a lot of sense if he was aiming for the leadership of the Clan in the future, once he has evolved into the higher forms of the Lizardman.

Evolution was still a bit blurry for Carnage, he recalled that when he revealed Thundercaller what kind of variant Carn was, the spellcaster gave him a briefing on the evolution topic, but it was not a detailed one.

Once an individual hits level 100, they start evolving and depending on the requirements that it has full filled, it would evolve into a higher specimen, possible a variation if the individual was lucky enough.

Saying goodbye to Storm, Carnage retired to his little room; although personal den would be perhaps a more appropriate term; and unrolled the scroll that contains the instructions and requirements for the [Unseen Servant] Ritual, quickly reading the contents and snorting after finishing it.

It was quite simple, even without his [God of magic] criminally unfair advantage to learn all kind of magic, the Ritual was not all that complex. A circle of magic; there was written in other variations that should work as well too, like a triangle and a square; detailed and clear runes for the attributions of the servant, like a store, serve, clean, cook etc, and bathe the runes in a drop of the blood of the summoner. After that, it was only a matter of chant the name of Servant and call it, calling it constantly and without pause, as the summoner keep providing power until the Servant crystallized itself from the magic power poured in the ritual and bond with the summoner, for the rest of their lives and even beyond; depending of the ritual and the runes; there was all kind of variants that different spell casters of the Stormrage Clan have been discovering and recorded in the scroll.

Carnage completed it in a matter of hours, with a final blink of power, the magic took the shape of an androgynous, well dressed, with a red, slightly reinforced, jerkin; it lacked body from the waist down and its face was empty of any features, except a blackish skin, with two red markings; identical to the ones that Carnage had on his chest; and three tiny horns that mirrored the ones of Carnage.

Carnage baptized it Carravers; from an Englishmen butler that Carnage meets once; and the magic construct just took it in stride and accept it, with a monotonous tone that couldn't hide the deep vein of sarcasm that runs under it. Carnage was sure that they were going to get along, just fine. Carravers cleaned up the place in a second, storing the scroll that has summoned it, and a couple of other clothes that Carnage has made with his [Webbing] skill, vanishing back, waiting for the call of Carnage.

Calling it a day, a very productive and surprising day, Carnage rested on his hammock and sleep like a rock, sure that the future was going to show him even more wonders.

As the morning comes, his [Blindsight] alerted him of the sound of his door opening, making him awake and stay in alert in second; really use that one, was worth almost die to get it from that fat mole; but his nostrils caught a whiff of the smell, and soon recognized the smell of Thundercaller, who has come as he promised to send him to the Combat master of all Lizardman.

Carnage would be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy greatly the shocked expression of Thundercaller, when Carnage summoned Carravers to get back the scroll and return it to Thundercaller. Carnage has already memorized the ritual, but he took mental note of starting his own spell book as soon as possible. Back in Midgard, several wizard and sorcerers had Grimoires of all kind, from books to scrolls, to more exotic things like wooden tablets and the sort. In this world, he knew that scrolls were common, and after all the books that he has read about magic and Rituals, he knew that carrying around a Grimoire would only help him to keep track of all the spells and Rituals that he was going to collect bar create during his lifetime.

The older Lizardman laughed his ass off, impressed with the talent of Carnage and storing the scroll inside his robe; he guided him to the open area outside, where dozens of groups of Lizardmen where training and preparing to join the front lines. With a quick recount, Carnage realized that there were easily more than two hundred Lizardmen warriors training in the open field. Engaged in mock battles and practicing their martial skills with all kind of weapons, however, Carn did observe that there were gigantic specimens of Lizardmen here and there.

Thundercaller informed him that those were Saurus, an evolution of Lizardman and a kin species called Saurions, that focus on impossible strength and resistance. In Carnage´s mind they were akin to Jotun, giants of the lore of Midgard, but a reptilian, lesser version of them. A Jotun could stood between the four and the two hundred meters, not counting monster like Surtr of Ymir that are the size of a mountain, this Saurus were about three to three meters and half of height, so they were not even close to a real Jotun, still, they do look capable of tearing apart anyone with claws the size of daggers and weapons according to their size.

For the first time, Carnage knew the rest of his Talon, as Storm has called it; they did receive him cordially, and with a bit of reservation, as the rumors of the why and the how of his name spread around the Stormrage Clan Den. A name like Carnage surely had quite the tale behind it.

Rain Swiftjaws, the only female of the group, was shorter than him and Storm, but taller than Leaf, standing on a proud six feet and a couple of inches height, she did seem to build to be swift and agile, with a pleasant azure tone to her scales and white tattoos like markings on her arms and leg. She had a soft mane of white hair that reached her middle back. If one had to judge by the Lizardmen beauty cannons, she was attractive, but her longer jaws and the silver eyes broke it a little. She was a [Swiftclaw rider], supposedly a gifted rider of the creatures called Swiftclaws.

Leaf Windtamer was one of the darkest types of scales that Carnage has ever seen, they were the color of a dark storm cloud, with a white lightning pattern on the scales of his back. He was the shorter of the bunch, with six feet height, however, he was of sturdy complexion, with stocked arms that bulged with muscles under the scales. His jaws were shorter than the usual on the Lizardmen and had cloud colored eyes. According to his variant, he was a [Pathfinder], a ranger and an explorer.

They observing him too, realizing that he was as tall as Storm and similarly built, but his gunmetal gray scales and golden and red marking did throw them for a loop, as it was very uncommon among the Stormrage Clan, perhaps in Clans with a higher affinity to the earth, like Brimstone or Grimmwhisper could be a common thing, but among the Stormrage, the coloration of the scales of Carnage was quite odd. Anyhow, Thundercaller has already declared that he was the most talented spell caster that he has saw in his long life, and that gave Carnage a bit of space, as the word of Thundercaller was very respected.

Together, the new Talon was guided to the presence of Fang Mountainbreaker, the biggest specimen of his kin present in the Stormrage Clan Den. He was a [Saurus Juggernaut] variant, a mountain of muscles, fangs, claws, and scales that could chop and elephant to pieces with easiness. Standing over fourteen feet in height, he eclipsed the light of the sun once he approached Carnage´s Talon and saluted all of them with a humor-filled rumbling.

Saurus, variant or not, are not precisely the sharpest tools of the toolbox, but with the age, Fang has gained the wisdom and cunning that experience brought to the survivors and has become a vital piece of the Clan, as he could teach all new warriors, all kind of tricks, techniques, and abilities to survive in the battlefield. Not to mention that he has practically killed everything that the Southern Empire has thrown at him, and was happy to teach the youngsters about the weak spots of all the enemies he has killed. In fact, he was quite proud of his collection of battle trophies, as it had a skull of all the species that formed the Southern Empire for the last two decades.

Learning under him was considered quite the privilege, as he had the experience and the scars to demonstrate that Fang knew what he was doing; and a Carnage´s Talon didn't lose the chance to learn as much as he could. Theoretically, they were there to see what kind of abilities did they have with the weapons, but once they get comfortable with the weapons of their choice, they did not lose time in practically kidnapping Fang and made him train them for the rest of the day, trying to master their weapons as soon as they could.

On a side note, Carnage did not choose a single weapon; he couldn't, he was already proficient with the weapons of his Northerner kin from Midgard, the memories of the Campione that he was, were there, showing him how to fight ruthlessly and with preternatural efficiency. Carnage was proficient with the sword, the battleax, and the spear, combining them with a shield on a dual wielding, but Carnage said that he was a bit more ambitious and would wait, seeing if he could forge his own weapon, a design that he had in head, and he has not seen it, in the armory of the Clan.

Fang took interest on it, and once Carnage explained what he had in mind, the [Juggernaut] laughed, telling him that he was eager to see if the idea was as useful as Carnage was convinced that it was, they did sound promising. Especially for the more specialized divisions of the army, like the Swiftclaw riders and the Wyvern cavalry. Carnage promised Fang that as soon as he had the permission, he would even forge one weapon for him so he could judge by himself. Fang took it in stride and laughed, accepting the challenge.

In all, Storm´s Talon, as Fang has called them, showed proficiency in several weapons, making them versatile and adaptable, just as Storm liked and hoped it would be. Storm was a lancer, with and without shield; no surprises here; Rain was surprisingly adept with the sword, the lance, and the shield, with a knack for quick shooting the short arrows that the Swiftclaw cavalry used; Leaf was a nightmare with the dagger, the javelin, and the bow, but he had difficulties to parry hits with the shield, preferring to dodge than to block. Carnage tended to use two-handed weapons or to dual wield, but he knew his way around a shield, mixing it with the sword, the ax or the spear with easiness. On a side note, the only one that showed interest in blunt weapons was Carnage, the other did not like clubs, hammers or maces, something that Fang, on the other hand, seems to favor a lot.

The Talon dine together, recovering from the beatdown that Fang has dissed to them all during a last mock battle. The [Juggernaut] has kicked their scaled tails all the ways to Sunday, laughing all the time, and sending them flying with swirls in their eyes and not really wanting to get up from the comfortable floor. Carnage learned that he was still a youngster in the world of powerful monsters, a single, solid and real, hit from Fang´s mace, and he would have been turned into a smear on the ground. Carnage had a long road ahead and instead of frustration, he raised to the challenge, It was like facing a worthy enemy, his blood was boiling from all the challenges that this new world was offering him.

Soon calling it a day, as the tiredness of the day and the bruises from the beat down were still fresh, they retreat to their little dens, eager to rest and to see what the next day would bring. Especially Rain, as the third day was the day on where they will be guided to the stables, where the different mounts where hold. From the flying wyverns to the Swiftclaws that she had an affinity with.

Before he went to his private den, Carnage made a last stop into the library, collecting a writing kit and preparing to scribble down, all the ideas that he has had once he saw the [Saurus] and the extensive, yet surprisingly simple and specialized weaponry that the armory of the clan have.

For a Clan that specialized in aerial combat, they do have an adequate arsenal, a bit limited, but adequate. However, Carnage was convinced that some of the weapons that he saw in the Roman Empire, the Persian, the Egyptian, the Japanese, the Chinese, by Pandora, even the Inuit hunters, could do wonders for the military progress of the Clan. Especially, if he applies some tricks that appeared in modern times to their weapons. Real shame he never understood well how the firearms works, but perhaps it would be for the better, firearms were too dangerous, too lethal, too unpredictable to keep them around. Anyone can be a hero with a gun, lacking any discipline and mental fortitude to understand what they are doing or if they should do that.

Resting in his hammock and asking Carravers to keep the schemes and drawings, Carnage rested his bruised and battered body on the comfortable resting place, enjoying the texture of the fur and how it easily warmed his sleep; Lizardman was cold-blooded species that enjoyed heat a lot.

Carnage did not need much to sleep like a log until his [Blindsigth] signaled him that someone was knocking to the wooden door of his Den. Carnage swore that he has just closed his bloody eyes, but soon his senses tell him that Storm was at the other side of the room.

Grumbling under his breath, Carnage stood up and opened the door, cursing in good humor Storm, for awakening him. The [King] variant laughed and told him that the rest of the Talon was already in the stables, and he was the last one. Shrugging, Carnage yawned once and followed Storm to the stables. The bloody bastard of Storm didn't even look sore, and Carnage was still feeling the muscles of his arms sore from blocking the thundering strikes of Fang´s mace blows. Perhaps Storm´s [King] variant was more physical than his own [Overlord] variant, considering the abyssal difference in magical talent, it would not be a surprise. Carnage took note that trying to see if he could slay a powerful physical monster and Usurp some nice physical augmentations.

Being physically weak did not sit well with him or his long-term plans.

The Stables of the Clan were a massive open space and a network of caverns that hold the thousands of breeding pens that the Clan has to tame and handle the different mounts that they used on the battlefield. It was a bit of a labyrinth for those that are not accustomed to the layout of the different breeding pens and resting caverns. About a dozen types of mounts were kept always here, all of them relatively mindless breeds of reptilian origin, practically all of them with some common ancestry with Dragons and other powerful dragon-like evolution. Among those twelve types, eight of them were of the winged variety, as the Stormrage Clan specialized in aerial combat and domain over the skies.

As soon as they pass the strong fence that signaled the territory of the [Tamers], a short but bulky Lizardman of snow and blue scales come to receive them. Her name was Aurora Cloudrender, and she was a [Wyvern rider], a Lizardman that has tamed and rode a Wyvern; one of the most dangerous beasts that the Clan had under his control. Wyverns are two-legged, winged dragon-like beasts with a large and powerful stinger; a scaled version of a scorpion tail; filled to the brim with one of the most lethal poisons of the world. It was considered quite a feat to tame one of those, even more, if the beast becomes part of an aerial squadron where his size, jaws, talons, and stingers could put down, savagely, any aerial enemy forces.

Storm´s Talon was guided to the different pens, it was not a surprise to any of them, that Rain immediately moved to the Swiftclaw zone; her variant was a rider type after all. She was soon followed by Leaf, who didn't want to try his luck with any aerial mount for the moment, but the ability of the Swiftclaws to move swiftly and quietly despite their size called to his [Pathfinder] nature.

Swiftclaws were bipedal, velociraptor-like, reptiles; about seven feet tall, with powerful talons and claws, that could run at impressive speeds overall kind of terrains. All the ground cavalry of all the Clans made extensive use of this powerful reptiles, with variations here and there, mostly due for their environment and breeding.

For example, the Brimstone Clan´s Swiftclaws were sturdier than the other breeds and had the ability to breathe short streams of fire, or the Swampmist Clan´s Swiftclaws, who were capable of spit poison and their body fluids were poisonous as well. Stormrage Clan´s Swiftclaws were nimbler and faster than the other breeds, capable of running at impressive speeds for a long time and to jump and climb any obstacle with easiness.

Both Storm and Carnage liked the Swiftclaws, but neither of them was convinced that they were the adequate amount for them. If, they were able to ride a mount without falling at each step; even among a Clan with so many riders of all kinds, ground forces were a must, and a good chunk of the entire population of the Clan, simply fought on their own claws, as they lack the talent to be a rider of any kind.

Storm was hoping that it would not be the case of his Talon; Storm knew that with Rain´s variant, she was going to be a rider, Leaf, being a [Pathfinder] would have a lot of sense that he was going to be a rider. He and Carnage, Storm was not all that sure. In the best case scenario, both would have a flying mount, perhaps a Wyvernling or a Wingclaw, lesser forms of the Wyverns, but Storm would consider himself satisfied if all his pack becomes a rider of some kind.

It was a non-spoken rule of the Clan, but practically all the rulers of the Clan so far; the ones that have not evolved past the [Dragonkin] or [Saurus Rex], has been riders of some kind, be it from ground mounts of aerial ones. As [King], Storm hoped that he would be the same. Unfortunately, it has not been the case with the favored Swiftclaws of two of his Talon members, but there were still several options.

Carnage was taking it a lot better. He really didn't really care about a mount, although, it would be nice to reminiscence old times and had his own powerful beast to have at his beck and call, like the [Divine Beast Sleipnir] was once, but it was not something that he was focused on achieving. Between his magical and forging projects, he doubted he would have the time to invest into being a rider. Especially, if it was an aerial kind; as the former flying individual himself, thanks to the [Storm] Authority, he knew that flying with perfect maneuverability was a matter of thousands of hours of practice and no little amount of nerve breaking, almost, crash landings.

Aurora took them to the next pen, where the lesser flying breeds were kept, but once again, they did not show any talent or interest in the swift Wyvernlings or Swiftwings; moving forward, the next on the line was the higher breeds, Dracos, and Wyverns; in a surprising turn of events, Storm did bond with a Wyvern hatchling, a recently born beast, whose stormy cloud colored scales and black stinger was a perfect compliment to Storm scales; they bond quite easily and soon the Wyvern hatchling was nibbling at Storm tail, chasing the appendage as Storm tries to keep it out the reach of the tiny but sharp teeth of the little Wyvern.

Carnage did not have such a luck, and the Wyverns and he just stare at each other, nodded once and keep doing their business, much to the shock of Aurora, who has never seen the Wyverns act like that, unless a bigger, worse, and tougher predator was nearby. Anyhow, Carnage and the Wyverns had recognized each other, and that was all that he needs to know that all the Wyverns of the Stormrage Clan know that messing with him was a bad idea.

Identically happened with practically all the other breeds, Dracos were scared of him, Wyvernlings desperately flew out of his presence, Wurms roared and trashed around, uncomfortable with Carnage in their surroundings, Wyrms eyed him all the time he was in the pens, staring at him in complete silence, much to the amazement of the caretakers around, who have never seen them so quiet. In the end, there was the only pen left, and Aurora was about to pass without even entering; that called the curiosity of Carnage, who moved to see what kind of breed was there, and how come Aurora hasn't even bothered to show them this place.

As soon as he entered, taking advantage of a moment of distraction as Aurora was happy to found a fellow Wyvern rider in Storm; Carnage saw why Aurora didn't seem interested in showing them this pen. It was the den of the Butcherclaws, possibly the most dangerous ground predator of the Dragon Empire.

About fifteen feet tall, and twenty seven feet long, armored head to tip of the tail in dense scales, four muscular and powerful legs ending in sharp claws with a longer, slightly hooked rending claw on all of the four and with a jaw that could cleave an ox in two in one, single, bite; the Butcherclaws had a well-deserved fame of being ruthless, relentless and terrifying predator that could hunt down bigger preys that them with their claws and ripping jaws.

It was bloody perfect.

Carnage got inside of the den, judging from the sounds and the smells, there was only a quintet of Butcherclaws on the den right now; not really a surprise, such powerful beasts could turn the tide of a battle, as no common cavalry would be able to do shit against the charge of one of this apex predators. Getting closer to the barrier that separated the den from the outside, Carnage eyed over the top, seeing that there was a couple of young Butcherclaws hunting down a goat; it seems that Carnage has just arrived in time for lunch; and they were taking their time hunting the poor animal, who tried to escape, in vain, to the corners of the room.

Looking around, to be sure that there were no witnesses of his, supposedly non-possible, powers; Carnage made sure that there was no one around and with a wicked smile, jumped down the fence, using his [Walk Climbing] Usurped trait to reach the deep of the Butcherclaw den easily and with a loud roar of defiance, took his stingers out and started to hunt down the bigger of the two young Butcherclaws.

Alerted by the sudden roar, one that it was not from a Butcherclaw, one of the caretakers run to the fences, to see if some cretin has managed to fall onto the dens; it was not as unusual as one would like to think, Kobolds and common Lizardmen, especially the heavy labor type, are not clever enough to always be alert and on guard, near the dens of the predators; Butcherclaws were, along the Wyrms and the Wyverns, among the most dangerous mounts and war beasts that the Stormrage Clan had in their possession. Last thing anyone sane need, was to make them acquire the taste for the Kin taste, that would make their training and breeding even more hellish than it already was.

However, the caretaker did not see anything unusual on the dens, except a bawling goat, who was trying to fuse itself with the stone...wait, where are the Butcherclaws that should have been engorging themselves with the goat?. Forcing his hearing, the caretaker soon detected the echoes of roars, grunts, snaps, claws and flesh being cut and ripped; some cretin did manage to fall into the den and was battling the Butcherclaws!, although the caretaker was not sure it be impressed or astonished; it is needed a crazy kind of valor to have the guts to face a Butcherclaw, especially in its own den and without any weapon as the caretaker knew that no one is allowed to bring weapons into the dens, it made the war-beasts nervous.

Running outside for some help and the tools to keep the Butcherclaw at bay when they tried to get into the den to recover the remnants of the poor sod that has been their lunch, he did fail to notice the faint echo of laughter and the flashes of fire illuminating the deep corners of the den, showing the shadows of a Butcherclaw battling against a Lizardman, specially the part, when the Lizardman managed to put the Butcherclaw to the ground and raise an arm with two long and sharp claws.

Not ten minutes later, Aurora and a group of caretakers; along Storm, who was nearby and wanted to help as payment for the advises of Aurora about how to took care of his Wyvern and how to deepen the bond with the flying beast; entered into the Butcherclaws den to collect what's left of the victim, to prevent the Butcherclaws to acquire a taste for kin´s flesh and blood.

They arrive just in time to stare dumbfounded over the edge of the fence, how Carnage was sat in the middle of the den, eating a crude leg roast, comfortably laying on the flanks of a young Butcherclaw of red and golden scales; who was happily munching the rest of the goat; and scratching the head and side of the neck of another young Butcherclaw; a female back and gold specimen; who was rumbling in pleasure for the pleasant scratching.

"Ah", waved Carnage to the jaw slacked Lizardmen, making the scratched Butcherclaw poke him with the top of her snout, in demand of the scratching to return. "Aurora, why didn't you told me about this beauties? they are adorable". Laughed Carnage returning to his scratching duties, much to the pleasure of the Butcherclaw who rumbled back in the pleasure again; not much different as a house cat would have purred.

Storm was already laughing his ass off, congratulating himself mentally for recruiting this crazy bastard into his Talon; Carnage has done it again! meanwhile, Aurora and the rest of the caretakers were still trying to found some bloody sense to what the heck they were seeing.

Carnage has to admit, that his first three days of his life as [Lizardman Overlord] have been quite interesting, he even had a powerful war-beast of his own, now!, it was not the hunting hound that he had in the past or [Sleipnir] but he was very pleased with the Butcherclaw.

Now, he really should name this adorable little thing; was Rumbles a good name?.

 **End Chapter.**

 **Character Info:**

 **Name:**

Carnage "Carn" Runescales of the Stormrage Clan.

 **Race:**

Lizardman Overlord- Level 16

 **Talon:**

Leader: Storm Thundercry (Wyvern rider) [King]

-Carnage Runescales (Butcherclaw rider) [Overlord]

-Rain Swiftjaws (Swiftclaw rider) [Swiftclaw Rider]

-Leaf Windtamer (Swiftclaw rider) [Pathfinder]

 **Unique Skills:**

-Circle of Usurpation: Much like the Authority, Carn can steal a Skill/Authority/Trait from the body of a defeated enemy, but only if it has been defeated by him.

-Divine´s Bane: As former Devil King, Carn is the bane of any divine spellcaster or divine creature.

-We want grandbabies!- Pandora and Epimeteo, wanted grandbabies to spoil, like it or not, Carn would have a harem.

 **Skills/Traits/Abilities.**

-God of Magic: Carn can learn any kind of magic, thanks to the Blessing of Pandora.

-Oldest soul: Carn had all the memories of Magnus Blacksson, the strongest and Oldest Campione of a bygone era. As magic comes from the soul, he had a godly reserve of magic to fuel his spells.

 **-Rituals:**

-Unseen Servant: Carn can summon a Servant that acts as Steward, cleaning crew, cook, and infinite warehouse. He called the androgynous being of pure magic, Carravers It does have the sense of humor of an English butler.

 **Usurped Skills/Traits/Abilities/etc:**

 **Skills:**

-Pyrokinetic: Carn can create and manipulate natural fire.

-Webbing: Carn can generate natural webbing of three colors steel, gold and red, he can project it from fingertips, mouth, tail tip and ass.

 **Blessings:**

-Red Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the red head of Tiamat, Carn domain over fire is way superior to the rest of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Green Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the green head of Tiamat, Carn is the best poisoner of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

 **Traits:**

-Spit Poison: Carn can spit poison of varying virulence.

-Poisonproof: Carn is immune to all natural poison and highly resistant against magical poisoning

-Walk Walls: As a spider, Carn can walk barehanded/footed over non-slippery/wet surfaces

-Spiderkin: All Spiders considers Carn one of them, thanks to the effect of the [We want Grandbabies] bless, all female Arachnes found Carn specially Alluring.

-Stone Mimetic: Took the appearance, texture, and smell of the surrounding rocks, but not his hardness.

-Fireproof: Carn is immune to all kind of natural fire and highly resistant against magical fire.

-Blindsight: Perfect, 360º sight at 10 meters, no matter the conditions.

-Stone carving claws: 12 inches twin stingers from his forearms capable of cutting and carving stone with easiness.


	3. Saga I

**3-Saga I**

It has been several weeks since Carnage joined Storm´s Talon, and he had to admit that, that decision, has resulted in one of the cleverest things that he could have done in his life. Although, the intense training regime that Thundercaller has to shove on him, was a bit too much; but Carn could take it and thanks to it, he found the perfect excuse to go out there and put his claws in some extra aces under his sleeves.

From the moment that he bounded with the Butcherclaws; especially the female, who become his mount and personal warbeast; Thundercaller made a personal mission of him, to make him suffer under a hellish training regime, dragging the rest of his Talon with him. Still, Storm took it quite well, arguing that they can take it and that only means that they would get better training, making them level up faster and into more powerful variants, so, he didn't really saw the cons of the matter.

[King´s wisdom] at its finest, Storm really hit the jackpot with that one.

Carnage baptized his Butcherclaw as _Bloodjaw_ , as the little cute thing always had her muzzle and jaw covered in the blood of her last victim, together, they usually went to hunt by the night, enjoying some peace and quiet and subtly allowing Carnage to collect some extra aces under his sleeves from the local fauna, and sometimes very active and predatory flora.

Storm´s Talon day usually started as soon as the sun pecked through the horizon by wolfing down a big breakfast; they really need it considering how they usually end running ragged by their teacher and trainers and moving down to their own personal training.

The morning was the moment on where each member of the Talon trained in their respective specialties.

Storm his [Electrokinesis] and [Sky Magic]; Rain with the Swiftclaw Cavalry, Leaf patrolling the mountain on where the Stormrage Clan den was located with a light force of fellow rangers and scouts, and Carnage being tutored; at his unique and criminally demanding style; by Thundercaller, as the older Lizardman was a [Magic Caster] variant and was the only one who could teach Carnage properly, thanks to Carnage´s astonishing capability to learning any magic.

A quick lunch and they entered the midday, joining the rest of the military forces of the Clan with Fang; training with the weapons, with all kind of military units of the Dragon Empire and having all kind of mock battles and battle simulations.

Fang did seem to have a sadistic pleasure in smashing them to ground during each of those drills, laughing all the time, but Carnage appreciated the lesson; the [Juggernaut] always had advice about how to improve and if they are able to withstand their hits, then little things out there are going to made them flinch. A bit extreme, but the world was not a nice place, and would hit you hard, long and without lube as soon as you lower your guard. That was Fang´s favorite expression, by the way, he learned it from an Asgardian [Einherjar] during the initial attack of the Southern Empire to both allied Countries and Fang made it his.

During the afternoon, after a very needed visit to the healers; by the second week they already were practically part of Talon, because of the time they passed together and all the good-humored jokes about all the practical training they were doing before the war thanks to Storm´s Talon constant visits; they were free to pursue any possible interest they could have. This was the moment were Carnage pursued his own little side projects, like forging his own weapon and investigating [Rituals], especially the ones under the enchanting items category.

Thundercaller was eager to tortu...err, tutor Carnage a little more, conveniently ignoring the accusation of Carnage about Thundercaller being a slave driver, and severely abusing his authority as Guide. But Carnage knew that Thundercaller really knows his stuff, and was the best teacher Carnage could have asked, in the magical department. Once he learned enough about enchanting and how the forge of the Clan works, Carnage did cause an impression with his designs to the Lizardmen that took care of the forge and the metalcraft of the weapons and war tools of the Clan.

Lizardmen are not really keen to armors or clothes, their scales were usually good enough to deal with any incoming damage and with a loincloth, cape or robe was usually more than enough. However, Carnage introduced them to a humble and comfortable set of armor and clothes that would help the Lizardmen in the battlefield, along with a set of weapons that made the Lizardman smile wickedly, and imagine what that would to the legionaries that next time they meet them in battle.

Halberds, heavy maces, war hammers, Skeggox, and long lances were embraced wholeheartedly by the blacksmiths of the Clan, instantly seeing the potential of the weapons, especially at the hands of Lizardmen warriors and especially the Halberds. For the infantry Lizardmen of the Dragon army, a weapon that can slash, pierce, clinch, had a higher reach than the legionaries spears, and can be used against cavalry, heavy infantry and monsters, without losing a shield, was a bloody miracle of Tiamat, and a godsend to all the Clans, no matter the rivalry between them.

The Chinese Guan-dao was welcomed too, especially among the aerial forces, a heavy and long weapon that was perfect for the cavalry to slash, stab and even smash the shields of the enemies that they fly over, was bloody perfect; this last one soon was the favorite of Storm, that become quite proficient in using it as a whirlwind of slashes and strikes, a veritable storm of strikes that lefts minced meat behind.

As he promised, Carnage manufactured a weapon for Fang, and the [Juggernaut] fell in love with it, as soon as he put his claws on it. Carnage called it the _Shellbreaker_ and essentially, was a cylinder of the strongest metal he could found, with spikes on its surface and a long handle with a weight on the other side to balance the weapon so Fang could wield it with one or two hands depending on its needs. In a week, a hundred of those weapons departed to the front lines for all the heavy infantry soldiers like Fang; it crushed any shield formation and it smashed the armors and the bodies of monsters and heavy infantry soldiers alike. All the Saurus on the front lines were considering building a temple to Carnage for the weapon.

The Saurus was not the only one who was seriously considering "canonizing" Carnage as an envoy of Tiamat, all the Kobolds of the Empire, consider him a savior, as soon as Carnage developed three things for them, Gambesons, parrying daggers and rapiers.

Using his own webbing as a base, Carnage discovered that it was hard as steel and kept the heat very well, not to mention being waterproof. Creating a dozen of them, Carnage offered them as gifts to the Kobolds that worked on the Trial caves, telling them to use them and inform him of the result. Two days later, the dozen Kobolds were on their knees, profusely thanking Carnage for the gambesons and wanting to know how such a wonderful thing came to exist.

From the Kobold´s perspective, it was a comfortably padded jacket that keeps them warm, protected and dry, in the middle of the dark and cold environment of the caves.

As Carnage taught them how to thread the Spitting cave spiders webs into the lining of the gambeson and how to sew padding into it; gaining quite the audience in the process; he gave them a set of tiny rapiers; little more than needles from the Lizardmen perspective; and parrying daggers, giving them a brief briefing of how to fight with them. The Kobolds took fencing like a fish to the water, they were not massive masses of muscle and power like the Lizardmen but all nerve and wary muscle, so fencing was practically tailor-made for them.

On a funny note, all Kobolds started to call Carnage, the Benevolent One, and practically worshiped him, much to the chagrin of Carnage and the amusement of all Lizardmen around, but the respect that he has reaped in those first weeks was inarguable. His little innovations would send ripples through all the Dragon Empire, and surely other countries, as possible all the military forces of the world would eye very attentively this new weapon.

Personally, Carnage crafted for himself a five feet long, slightly curve bladed, cleaver sword; that made everyone that saw it grimace unconsciously. That was not a tool of war, that was a tool of terror; wounds of that weapon would be crippling or mutilating, to say the least, and with the strength of a Lizardman to back it up, and the sharp blade that Carnage has patiently grind, it would cut metal, flesh, and bone with equal easiness.

The only time of the day that Carnage has entirely for himself, out of the Clan eyes or his Talon pack companionship, was the evening. The time that he took advantage to pick _Bloodjaw_ and go outside to hunt and collect ingredients, materials and all kind of alchemical components for Rituals. Not to mention, several nice new Usurped powers from the preys that he and Bloodjaw hunt in the surroundings of the Stormrage Clan´s Den.

The first thing that Carnage realized, once he managed to get out of the Clan´s Den, was how he has underestimated the size of the domains of the Clan. Making an old world comparison, the Den was the size of the Himalaya, and the surrounding mountain and valleys were crawling with farmers and dens of common Lizardmen and Kobolds, the main bulk of the Empire inhabitants.

One of the things that always had puzzled Carnage was the origin of the absurd amount of food that the Den consumed every day, especially meat, but one glance to the herds of cattle around the Den and the extensive vegetable farms that Kobolds had, and Carnage understood perfectly from where did all the food come from.

An interesting discovery was the almost symbiotic relationship that Kobolds and Lizardman had in this valleys. Kobolds are mostly vegetable farmers, sowing big extensions of a vegetable called Grub. The Grub, who looks like the ugly bastard child of a lettuce and a beetroot, grows astonishingly fast; Kobolds could harvest it once every two months, and it fertilizes the soil, instead of draining it, allowing the Kobolds to harvest all kind of vegetables even in this harsh and difficult terrain.

The cattle and the Kobolds loved the Grub, and the Lizardmen; who loved the cattle, especially roasted; keep any animal or monster at bay, protecting the Kobolds from any menace. It was an almost organic system that worked like a charm and that fascinated Carnage. If only his Northerner kinsman had something like the Grub, history would have been very different. Although, after tasting the Grub, Carnage recognize that it was like munching a pickle, he liked pickles, so he often snacked on crude Grub, unfortunately, it only convinced the Kobolds that he was a divine send to help them, as almost no other Lizardman could stomach the taste of the Grub; all Lizardmen were practically carnivore in their diets.

Hunting along Bloodjaw, and sometimes camping on the outside, something quite easy if you had a Carravers; even if its humor was a bit annoying at a times; allowed Carnage to relax and focus his thoughts about what to do from now on. They were going to be sent to the front lines, that´s for sure, especially his Talon, Storm was a born leader, and the skills of Rain and Leaf could mark the difference in the war. But he was a special case all-together.

Thundercaller has joked once, about chaining him to the library, to see what kind of ideas did he get, not to mention that the [Lizardman Magic Caster] has already voiced his opinion that Carnage was a magic talent that one can only see one in a century and tossing him into the battlefield could be a good thing or a complete waste of talent.

Carnage knew that a blade can only sharpen up to a point before it dulls, so even if he knew that there were still hundreds of things to learn, and tons of spells and powers to Usurp; thanks to his [Circle of Usurpation], it was clear that his place was in the field, where he could harvest the lives of the enemies of his kin and gain hundreds of powers in the process.

Speaking of which, Carnage discovered a series of interesting facts about [Circe of Usurpation]. The most important of them all is that he had to personally slain his objective to win anything. Not defeat, not beat to a bloody pulp, not given the coup de grace; Carnage had to slain, take the life of his objective, for the Circle to activate. And he had to do it himself, _Bloodjaw´s_ kills are not his, he can not Usurp anything from others victories.

Still, those hunting nights did give him quite the haul of interesting powers, from racial traits to unique skill, it has resulted in quite the loot; Carnage was eager to see what kind of powers could he Usurp from individuals of other Empires and countries, what kind of monster would he face? what kind of interesting individuals will he meet?.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Nightstalker: Mimetic trait Usurped],_ an advanced version of the power that he Usurped from the Cave snake, it allowed him to make his body fuse with the environment, practically disappearing from sight. It came from a pack of hybrids of hyena and a rattlesnake that tried to ambush him and _Bloodjaw_. Against his [Blindsigth] and _Bloodjaw´s_ sense of smell, it was a suicide, but Carnage took the trait nonetheless, it was very useful.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Acidroot: Corrosive Stench trait Usurped],_ this was a tricky one, it comes from a big, plant thing, that was a big, bulbous Venus-flytrap who could exhale acidic stench, poor _Bloodjaw_ was with sore nostrils and snots for a couple of days. Essentially, Carnage could sweat an acrid, repulsive and acid body sweat now; considering that Lizardmen did not sweat it was a bit of a failure for the moment.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Stegox: Hardened scales trait Usurped],_ as the opposite of the previous, it was exceptionally useful, as it hardens the scales of Carnage up to the eleven. Carnage could even withstand a hammering strike of Fang, without a massive bruising afterward, still hurts like hell, but common stabs and slashes were a thing of the past now.

Carnage got it from a large, totally armored turtle-like reptile with a dangerous spiked tail. _Bloodjaw_ really enjoyed chewing the scales of the beast afterward, she and her brother still have lots of it as chew toys; Carnage made sure to keep some of them with Carravers to have some chew toys for _Bloodjaw_ before she rips something that she shouldn't.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Storm Lizard: Electrokinesis skill Usurped],_ this was one the most pleasant surprises of the powers that he Usurped, during his hunting evenings with _Bloodjaw._ Now Carnage had the same inborn [Kinetic] skill that ninety percent of his Clan had; not to mention he had some very interesting ideas about how to devise a ritual that would channel all the Electric power of a Stormrage Clan Talon and unleash it over a specific objective. A raging storm that falls upon the enemies of the Clan. Quite fitting actually.

[Electrokinesis and Pyrokinesis] skills together created a dangerous combination, but unfortunately, Carnage was immune to fire, not to electricity, he should hunt more Storm Lizards when he had a chance, but with his hunting time limited to the evening and sometimes the night, he knew that he was missing a lot of potentials preys out there.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Blood Vine: Blood drinker trait Usurped]_ , one of the nastiest pieces of flora that Carnage has ever met in both lives; a living vine that waited for a living body to pass nearby and then latch his green vines around, absorbing the blood through the skin, until there is nothing but a husk left. Pity scales are more resistant and hugging a [Pyrokinesis] user like that, especially being a plant, was not a clever strategy. A nice emergency trick to have, especially in the middle of a battlefield, where spilled blood, abounds.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: White Slime: Elasticity trait Usurped]_. The skill to made his body stretch, twist and bend like it was made of goo, but without losing any strength of resistance. It was a bit shocking to see Carnage twirl his arm around like it was a yo-yo, but Carnage had to admit that this would allow him to put some impossible moves, and he was practically impossible to bind now, he could just, wiggle his way out of any bind and slip through any corner.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Bronto: Tireless Body trait Usurped]_. The real jackpot of the seven powers that he Usurped during his evening hunts with _Bloodjaw,_ and the reason why he did not faint from exhaustion from the intense as hell training that he was suffering at the hands of Fang and Thundercaller.

Carnage was impossible to tire, he can work relentlessly and without pause, as long as his magic could keep the exhaustion at bay, thanks to his [Oldest soul] little perk, that means that he has godly stamina reserves. Just what the medic advised to keep up with his crushing style of life. This wonderful gift comes from a savage Bronto, a massive, elephant-sized beast that could walk from one side to the other of the continent, carrying ten times his weight in cargo, without any need to rest or sleep. They are the base of the supply caravans of the Clans armies.

In all, these last weeks, practically a month since Carnage joined Storm´s Talon, it has been a training camp from hell, but knowing the situation of the Empire, it was not something that really surprised Carnage. They had the numbers, as Kobolds and Lizardmen grow fast and strong quickly, easily replenishing the numbers that the war has put on their population. The problem was with the higher-ups, variants were rare, and leaders and commander are scarce among the Lizardmen, that´s why Talons are valued greatly, as they had the very needed commanding and cunning factor that the numerous armies of Lizardmen needed to be efficient.

On a curious note, Carnage realized that the concept of Clan, was far more important than family; in fact, the family was non-existent as a term, having instead, Kin, as keywords that resumed the ties and bonds that the Lizardman have. For a better understanding of it, Carnage spoke with Thundercaller about it, camouflaging the matter as worrying about the numbers and need of fresh troops that the war demanded. Thundercaller laughed but explained to him how the reproduction and social system of the common Lizardmen and Kobolds works.

Being a month, more or less, since they have born, they were still two months far from the next mating season, something that occurred about four times a year. There was a heat season, once a year, that affected all the Kin, but an actual fertile cycle was about four times in a year.

Kobolds will experiment a mating frenzy, and each fertile female would have about six to a dozen eggs, that would grow in the spawn of thee days, into recently born Kobolds. Carnage thought that he would possibly never knew who his Kobold "parents" were, but he surprised himself not really caring very much, Kobolds, all Kobolds, were under the protection of the Clan equally; well, all Clan´s Kobolds have priority of course.

Lizardmen were a bit more complicated; once the mating season began, the fertile female will start to look out for what they have judged as worthy mates, and ask then about having eggs together. Usually, strong females look out for strong males so they rarely said no, but it happens from time to time; especially from parents that look out for increasing some traits or aiming to his descendants to be of different variation than them.

Such unions gave birth to an average of two to six Lizardman hatchlings. Higher evolutions are more...human-like in that regard, as they can bed almost any intelligent species and could have descendants, but that same descendants are usually of the same race that one of the parents, but with unique traits or skills that came from the other. In the Dragon Empire, those couples were way common in the Queen´s Den and the scattered mercantile cities and ports all over the country, where the higher evolutions and their variations, mingle with the rest of the races of the known world.

Hybrids of all kind was a very common thing, especially in frontiers and multicultural mercantile cities that gave a home to hundreds of different species. As always happens, as people mix with each other, they discover new and imaginative ways to kill or fuck each other. Monsters and other intelligent races were not excluded, after all, stereotypes existed for a reason, and this violent world has given them plenty of reasons and opportunities to embrace the stereotypes.

A couple of days later; the thirty-five day since the foundation of the Talon; and Carnage managed to slain the abominable love child of a threesome between a gorilla, a hedgehog, and a caiman, after a tough battle, later Carnage discovered that is called Drarila, and it was considered one the apex predators of the mountains; Carnage was called along with the rest of his Talon, to Thundercaller´s presence.

Carnage was eager to test his new powers, especially after the two new ones that he has usurped from the Drarila.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Drarila: Sharp scales trait Usurped]_ and _[Circle of Usurpation: Drarila: Might of the Predator skill Usurped]_. A defensive and a very offensive power. Sharp scales, basically turn the scales of Carnage into sharp blades, that would cut anything that touches them, and the Might of the Predator skill represented the supernatural might of the Drarila, who was capable of wrestling down beast way bigger than them.

Carnage could have asked for more after he felt the power of the Circle entering on him and gifting him with such powers. They cover one of the weakness that his new body had, his scales were now harder and can counter any unharmed and biting attacks and he had the strength to keep up with monsters like Fang, who could crush a cow under his claw with a single swipe.

Thundercaller was especially irritated that day, and Carnage suspected that the Guides had done something that he disapproved. Carnage usually trusted the solid and pragmatic wisdom of Thundercaller, it came from experience and age, two powerful teachers that had little time for cuddle anyone, but it was not like they see eye to eye everything; far from it. It was not the first time that they had tried to complete a Ritual and Thundercaller has smashed a staff over his head, insisting in following the procedure instead of test the new ideas that Carnage came up with, in the spur of the moment.

Anyhow, Storm, Ria, and Leaf were already there, and they did like a bit enthusiastic about the meeting, Of course, only a Lizardman can read another Lizardman, for anyone else, they would be as imperturbable as ever. Tails were usually a pretty nice indicator of what to expect, the nerves of the tail are one of the harder to control and usually, the tip of the tail reacts with the subconscious, showing movements and ticks that could reveal the true emotions of the Lizardman.

Carnage has learned that from the healers; Knuckle Fleshmend and Brokenfang were the two Priests that has healed Storm´s Talon after the daily beatings, called euphemistically training; that they received in the training field. Both were [Lizardman Priest] and channeled the bless of Tiamat, in the form of powerful healing magic.

"Greetings, Talon", saluted Carnage to his fellow Talon members. "What´s got you all that pumped up?", asked Carnage directly to Rain and Leaf, although Leaf only shuffled and grumbled a little, where Rain scales shaded a bit brighter than normal.

"Stop teasing your Talon, Carnage", came the voice of Storm from one of the corners of the cave, as the leader of the Talon, come from leaving his Wyvern; Thunderfury; in the pen of the Wyverns. "I know that you love to play your little mind games my friend, but please keep it down for a little, Thundercaller is a very bad mood, right now".

"And that's fresh news?". Widened an eye Carnage tuning to see the arrival of the leader of his Talon. "That old wanker is always in bad mood", shrugged Carnage, resting importance to the thought, for him, it was an everyday occurrence. "What I want to know, is what do you know that I don't; must be something important as it has managed to call the interest of my little fellow Talon companions, when they usually only show emotions when they are A) on the Swiftclaw den or B) Outside, enjoying the nature".

"Is not like that", softly protested Rain, the tip of her azure scaled tail wobbled from side to side.

"Rain, I have only seen your tail react like that, when you are over the back of a Swiftclaw; running around the fields", deadpanning as Lizardman was a very hard talent, all the race had little to none facial expression, but Carnage has managed to deadpan like a pro, even with his reptilian body features.

Rain scales turned a deeper tone of azure, as she silently glared at the tip of her tail; with eyes that spoke volumes about how she thought that her own tail was a treacherous bastard. Much to the amusement of Storm and Leaf, who keep silent at the side, trying to dodge the sharp tongue and wit of Carnage.

It was not that they did not trust the gunmetal gray, golden and red Lizardman, is that half of the time, Carnage´s mind could be in an entirely different world. Carnage often got lost in thought, silently pondering something for hours; only to come with things like the gambeson that all the Kobold population was adopting as main clothes now or the Shellbreaker, or the ax-spear and sword-staff that he created for the aerial forces. Not to mention that Carnage could eat Grub like it was a snack and not the bitterness of the goddess Tiamat made a vegetable.

The oddities and eccentricities of Carnage were that made him unique, but at the same time, it was hard for even his own Talon, to understand what, in Tiamat´s sacred name, was thinking the bloody bastard half of the time. However, Carnage has been a loyal companion and a dependable ally when the things went south and the blades or spells had to speak.

"Still waiting an answer, you lot", gruff Carnage looking at Storm and Leaf, the latter just shrugged and tried to take cover behind the bigger mass of Storm and the former just smile; in a sheepishly manner, well as much as a Lizardman can; and just pointed out at the door of the room where Thundercaller was waiting for them.

The Talon entered the room, just to see Thundercaller looking at them like they have pissed on his meat; Carnage has already accustomed to the eternally "frowning" expression of Thundercaller, the old [Magic Caster] was always like that whenever something that did not go along his expectations, happened. Teaching Carnage has practically etched the frown in his visage, as Carnage was the most unorthodox student that Thundercaller has never had.

"Storm´s Talon, you took your sweet time", grumbled Thundercaller, waving them in. "Enter already, we have a lot to discuss".

The Talon did not say anything and soon, the four of them were surrounding a big table, in one of the rooms that the spellcasters zone of the Stormrage Clan Den had for all kind of purposes. Carnage recognized the room like the one on where Thundercaller and he studied a possible ritual, to set a permanent ward against non-Kobolds on the trial caves.

It was a work in progress, too many variables and things to consider making the ritual extremely difficult, not to mention the need for a massive source of power to keep the ward up and running. Anyhow, the place lacked any of the magical items and components that Carnage remembered and only had a map and some books on the table that presided the entire room.

"I have to say, that I severely disapprove of this, but the war is taking a toll on us, even with the new trinkets that Carnage pulled out of his tail", smiled with a smirk full of fangs to Carnage, who shrugged and keep looking at the map. Carnage recognized some of the terrains that the map displayed, it was deep into the Dragon Empire, halfway to the Cold Sea; the eastern frontier of the Dragon Empire and the lair of the progeny of Jormungand, the World Serpent. That can not be good.

"Case is", continued explaining Thundercaller, seeing that Carnage has not taken the bait, "the Guides thought that the best way to see if any of the Talons of this year are ready to be deployed is to sent them into dangerous Sagas".

Sagas.

As odd as it sounds, it was the way on were different Talons demonstrates that they are ready to move out into the world. For what Carnage has read in the library, it was a method that Tiamat borrowed from the Asgard Kingdom.

All heroes from the Asgard Kingdom had to demonstrate that they are worthy of that title, and they do by composing Sagas, where they related the feats that they had to accomplish. Carnage felt a serious case of deja vú, it was just like home, this Asgard Kingdom was so similar to his own legends back in Midgard that it was frightening. Anyhow, Tiamat saw the usefulness of the Sagas and implemented it. From then on, all Talons had to accomplish at last one Saga to be considered worthy of leaving the Clan´s Den and into all the lands of the Dragon Empire and beyond.

All the countries and Empires had similar systems, but for what the Dragon Empire knew, they called it Quests and they had entire guilds built around the concept. It was a form of always keep an eye of the powerful individuals that populate the lands.

The Dragon Empire was a lot more tight-knitted in that sense, all the Kin is united under the guidance of Tiamat and the Queen´s Den Dragons, however, the Southern Empire was not like that, it was a chaotic union of city-states that plot and backstab each other with the same facility as they breath; all under the amusement of Jusar VIII, the latest Demigod ruler of the Southern Empire.

"Your Saga is a bloody suicide", crudely laid it to them, Thundercaller. "I was against it, but this time, your fame and feats worked against you, youngsters", sighed Thundercaller and pointed out to a mark in the map over the table.

"Over several years, that spot, the Rumbling Cave, has been considered a cursed place by all the Kobold farmers nearby", started to explain the where and what they had to do. "No one saw motive to send any force to investigate it; despite the superstition and the such, never has been recording any damage coming from the cave, except the occasional wild beast that took a liking to the place".

"But about a week and a half ago, something has changed for the worst inside that cave". Sighed Thundercaller. "At the beginning, it was the usual cattle disappearance and an occasional Kobold farmer gone missing during the night hours". Thundercaller moved to a nearby piece of furniture and opening one of the drawers, he pulled out a very brittle piece of bone. "That´s all the locals have found of a Talon of Kobold variants, all [Rangers] and [Scouts] variations with a Storm lizard rider among them". Announced Thundercaller and the mood in the room lowered down notably.

Kobolds may be weak in the physical sense, but they are swift, agile, quick on their feet and once they evolve into variants, they could be a bunch of seriously dangerous bastards who knew when and where to strike to maximize the damage. They are like a pack of wolves, working together they could bring down preys way bigger than them.

And this was a Talon of Kobold's variants that knew what they were doing.

Carnage sniffed the bone without even touching it, and as soon as he picked up a sensation, he grumbled, snorted and cursed in hisses. His Talon look at him for a second, letting him organize his thoughts, they have learned to trust his instincts and deductions. Thundercaller knew exactly what Carnage has done and what he has discovered, the older Lizardman may look like it, but he was incredibly proud of the achievements of his disciple, even if more times than not, they butted heads for the smallest things.

"[Death magic]". Snorted Carnage. "A powerful Death spell, a necromancer perhaps, no idea, but the power was enough to leave an imprint on the bone", Carnage grimaced showing a lot of fangs. "Considering the kind of power that I felt, even as a residue, I am surprised that the bone is not dancing or rattling like a fish out of the water, that or it erupted out of the body of its owner".

"What?", asked Leaf widening an eye. "Erupting out?".

"There is a spell of the Death branch of the Arcane system that does exactly that". Explained Carnage. "It is a powerful spell, it is called [Blood Bone Dance]. Perhaps a spellcaster, of more or less the same level of Thundercaller here, could pull it out; that or a very specialized spell caster, a [Necromancer] of some kind".

"Tiamat protect us". Simply hissed Leaf.

"Can you protect us from it?". Storm immediately turned to his best asset when the Talon was dealing with anything of the Arcane system. Storm may be a powerful [Sky magic] spellcaster, but that was it, Storm had no knowledge of any other branch. Carnage, on the other hand, was a library of magical knowledge, and always had an idea or two about how to face any magical menace.

"Without knowing what the hell we are facing, no". There was no space for delicacies, the blunt truth was better than any polite words. "I know a couple of rituals, spells, and tricks that could protect us from [Death magic] but if whoever did this is using [Death Magic] to such level, then we are pretty much screwed without all the magic protections we could beg, scrap, collect, or put our claws on".

"Then you know how to protect us". Storm knew that one of the defects of Carnage was that he always tried to cover all possible angles and possibilities and that he always worked on the base that the enemy was seriously overpowering him. It was his own version of the old adagio, "better safe than sorry".

"Aye, your stubborn bastard", grumbled Carnage calling Carravers with a wave, without a word, the Servant brings a scroll to Carnage. He took it and put it over the table so all the Talon could see it.

"This is a ritual that grants to any of the participants a good protection against all kind of Arcane magic". Carnage stretched out the word Arcane. "I have tested it, and it last for about nine hours, I think I can make it work for nine days but I will need some very, very, expensive components and some of them are unique from Asgard".

"I think it will suffice", eyed Rain the scroll. "Say Carnage, that protection extended to our mounts?". It was something that had sense, Rain loved her Swiftclaws, the mere idea of seeing one of those wonderful creatures erupted in a shower of gore as their bones are ripped out clean, made her go green of disgust.

"As long as we keep the ritual under no more than nine participants, yes, it can be applied to any living creature", Carnage suddenly scratched the base of one of his crown like tiny horns. "And some undead variants, now that I thought about it".

"Focus". Sighed Thundercaller, Carnage was always overdoing things. He would never leave something in peace, as long as he could tinker with it, a little more.

"I take that our Saga, is to travel to this Rumbling Cave and deal with anything that could have set lair inside it". Resumed Storm the objective of his Talon.

"Yes, that would be it". Nodded Thundercaller. "But as Guide, I have to warn you; this little cocky lizard", slapped Thundercaller to Carn on his red hair, Carnage didn't even noticed the sensation, but groaned and protested out of an instinct for all the times that he has discussed with Thundercaller. "Has already deducted what I feared, that [Death magic] is involved somehow, and if that was the case, it would be a safe bet that you are going to fight undead warriors, possible, even the fallen bodies of your own kin or reanimated monsters".

[Necromancy], a sub-branch of [Death magic] that specialized on infusing the corpses of the deceased into reanimated dolls under the will of the spell caster or summoning all kind of undead servants and minions; from skeletons to wraiths; constructed and maintained by the magic power of the spellcaster.

As it has been said before, a powerful soul can cast and keep stronger and longer spells. This two particular [Arcane System] branches are most of the time hand by hand, as those who study [Death magic], inevitable dabble a bit in [Necromancy]. It was like [Body magic] and [Healing] practically all of those who know one, know the other two.

Anyhow, Thundercaller was trying to make them see that this was not an easy task, [Death magic] is a terrible enemy, and one of the most hardest magic to defend from, as it dabbles in hurting souls and destroying life, reaping the very same thing that fuels three of the magic systems and the only common weaknesses that all living beings had.

Carnage has not already mastered a lot of spells of the [Death magic] branch, even if it was a wonderful trick to have, a powerful, life and matter, devouring spell that could pierce armor and flesh with the easiness. It was hard to control and canalize, but once the projectile is on the hunt, it's hard to block or dodge and it will always cause a lot of harm where it hits.

"No one is sure about how it happened, but two things are for certain". Continued Thundercaller to give them all the information they had on the matter. "One, there is [Dark magic] involved, and two, whoever is behind this is capable of exterminating a Talon of veteran Kobold [Ragers]".

Thundercaller then pointed out to the closest Dragon Empire Clan´s Den and with a hiss, the Talon realized that the nearest big post of the Clans was from the Grimmwhisper Clan. That clan was under the Black head of Tiamat, representing death and decay. It was too much of a coincidence to be fortuity, alas, the Rumbling Cave was in Stormrage´s Clan domains, at the bottom of one of the mountains that holds a big farming field of Grub and a cattle farm.

Once again, it was too much of a coincidence to be pure luck. An empty cave, sudden traces of [Death magic] just in the borders with the Grimmwhisper Clan, a Clan that specializes in [Dark Magic] and the recent events with the Swampmist Clan in the trials. This was starting to get ridiculous.

Carnage eyed his Talon for a second, grumbled under his breath and tapped on the border of the map with his claws. Either he was being a bloody paranoid, or there is something seriously odd going on with the Clans. After the fiasco of the caves, it was not a surprise for anybody that the Swampmist clan was visited by a Dragon of the Queen´s Den, the Dragons are the peak of the evolutions of their kin, everyone dreams about evolving into such powerful creatures.

The Dragon has supposedly set things straight, although, Carnage suspected that there was something deeper going on. Carnage has the [Red and Green blessings of Tiamat], if his suspicions are correct, that means that he was the Champion of the Brimstone Clan and Swampmist Clan, the latter, tried to give its champion an advantage, by killing all the other possible Champions in its generation, easing its ascension. Being the Consort of a Goddess surely has its perks and the Clan that had its Champion as consort surely would be regarded more highly than the rest.

Unfortunately, all this debacle took place during a time of war. It was a bad and a good thing altogether; good in the sense that the Chosen ones would be trained and would know of how war truly is, and bad because it will create frictions and rivalries in the worst possible moment.

Right now, the Dragon Empire must be united against its enemy, that Southern Empire is clever, dangerous, and with their slaves and Myrmidons are more than capable of facing the best of the Clans, in equal terms. Competition and the such, could be good, but this is getting a bit out of hand; Carnage really hoped that this is not going to be a headache he saw incoming, especially with the Grimmwhisper Clan practically breathing over the scales of their shoulders.

"Too close", simply said Leaf. "Too much of a coincidence".

"My thoughts, exactly". Nodded Carnage. "Even if we are all kin, Grimmwhisper is too close to just let us pass, surely they had sentinels, and that leads me to the next question, even if this Rumbling Cave is under our domain, why has, the Grimmwhisper Clan, done nothing?".

"It would have been quite easier to them to move a Talon in and out, without no-one being the wiser about their entrance". Quickly calculate the time and distance that a Swiftclaw; the mount she was more familiar with; would need to get a rider in and out, giving a day to deal with whatever was inside.

"Assuming a day of time for dealing with the insides of the Cave, from the nearest outpost of the Grimmwhisper to the Cave, there is little more than a day and half of a journey". She ended her analysis. "Everything could have been resolved in three days, tops".

"But it has not". Widened an eye Leaf. "Odd, Grimmwhisper is not that sloppy".

"Much less with traces of [Death magic], and especially after the Kobold Talon demise". Pointed out Storm, who didn't really want to put his Talon into such a delicate mess, but if the Guides has decided that they are the ones that are going to deal with all this dung, there was little he could do about it. "I am surprised that we have not already eared of Grimmwhisper´s Talon to move in and deal with it, why should they clean their claws out of this?, it was not good for them if we found something Grimmwhisper related".

"Why waste valuable resources when your neighborhood is going to deal with it?". Asked Carnage rhetorically, starting to see a patron that he didn't like one bit. "Grimmwhisper knew that the Rumbling Cave is under our domain".

Thundercaller has already followed the same line of thought that he suspected Carnage was following, and much as the [Overlord] variant, he didn't like the implications one bit. Sure, the Clan would never do something that could cause damage to the Dragon Empire, but the rivalry between the Five was a matter of legends.

"Don't follow". Simply shrugged Leaf.

"Let's say that Grimmwhisper had botched up, big time, something". Hypothesized Carnage. "Or that one of them has gone rogue or is doing something potentially dangerous". [Death magic] users, they deal with the most dangerous of the magic, so it was not out of the possibility. "This rogue, beast, magic, whatever, has to leave, run, and suddenly, it founds his home in the Rumbling Cave".

"Instead of sending a Grimmwhisper Talon and risk potential assets of the Clan, they clean their Claws and wait for the Talon of our Clan to deal with it". Ended Storm the reasoning.

"But we will know", pointed out Rain. "As soon as we enter there and witness what's wrong, we will denounce them for their incompetence".

"Assuming we get out of there alive, and if we will see anything that we could use to link it to the Grimmwhisper", denied Storm, who was a realist and knew that Thundercaller has called this Saga, a suicide one. For the old spell caster to call it like that, means that it was truly dangerous.

"There must be a reason why they have cleaned their claws in the matter", shrugged Carnage. "Not that it matters, after all, we are going to go, no matter what". Said Carnage, knowing that they had to take this Saga, like it or not.

With that sobering thought, the Talon proceed to quickly plan how to travel to the Cave, and fast, along with all kind of supplies that they could possibly need, to face any kind of dangers that might lurk in the deep of the cave. Having Carravers around was quite the advantage in that matter, as the Servant could store ungodly amounts of items, from food to tools, to more esoteric ingredients, weapons, and armors.

Carnage has been using the Servant to store all kind of camping supplies when he was out there, hunting with Bloodjaw. Rain liked how Carnage was bonding with his warbeast and gave him all kind of advice about how to threat the powerful predator well; one of the reasons why Carn has passed so much time hunting with Bloodjaw, was to deepen the bond, as more time they pass together, hunting together, living together, stronger will become the bond.

Storm, having the only winged warbeast of the Talon, would act as an aerial scout, guided and supporting Leaf in the vanguard as the [Pathfinder] would be their guide and senses in the open fields. Following him close would be Rain and Carnage, Rain had the speed and Carnage the raw power, even if Carnage was not a frontline fighter by himself.

Carnage´s Talon was not conscious of his new [Might of the Predator] Usurped power, that coupled with his cleaver would be a spectacle to behold. From the point of view of his Talon, Carnage was a multi-talented spellcaster that knew and could unleash a storm of spells from his extensive repertoire and who has mastered the Ritual system, always have an idea or a Ritual in his mind that could adapt them into what they need at the moment. Carnage wanted to be an all-rounder as he could, never knowing what he is going to face, and always having a counter for it. That´s why the [Ritual system] was so bloody dangerous, it could adapt to anything.

As the Talon exited the Clan´s Den, they couldn't but felt a tinge of excitement, it was the first time the Talon has got out of the Den together, and if they managed to accomplish the Saga, it was more than possible that they would be sent to the battle fronts; maybe even taking command of a battalion of Lizardmen in the war against the Southern Empire. Storm, as [King] variant, was eager to demonstrate that he was worthy of the title, and this Saga was his baptism of fire; the bluish Lizardman knew how high the stakes were in this Saga, but that will not impede him to fill his duty as Leader of his Talon. Storm feels that he owns them that, at least.

Rain and Leaf thoughts on the matter were a bit simpler. As [Pathfinder] and [Swiftclaw rider] their place was in the field, one scouting and the other charging along her unit, into the heart of the enemy, to rip and tear them to pieces. Although, Rain knew that Swiftclaws tends to be pack units, and as soon as she gets into one, she will have to abandon her Talon, for the Cavalry. It was her dream and her Talon was going to help her achieve it, she only hoped that her Cavalry would be one under Storm´s leadership or at last with one of her Talon companions in the same Battalion.

They covered a lot of terrains quite easily, between Leaf´s guiding skills and the tireless nature of their mounts, they could cover a lot of distance in relative swiftness; surely they found the occasional wild beast in their wake, but they were nothing but quick snacks for their warbeasts; the only slowing factor, was the fact that they knew nothing of the terrain beyond the point of the Den patrols and the fact that they knew nothing about what was dwelling in the Rumbling Cave and how far its reach was.

In a day of travel, they reached one of the Kobold farms, being well received by the Kobolds; who knew of Carnage, and keep calling him Benevolent one, Carn gifted the little six farmers with gambesons, in thanks for their hospitality, increasing his bloody fame in the process, much to the humor and teasing hissing as chuckles of his Talon. Carnage has dozens of those gambesons with Carravers, it was a very good practice exercise for his [Webbing] skill, and served as a way to ingratiate himself with the Kobolds. Even if they are little and look weak, they are one of the two pillars of the Dragon Empire, and being in good graces with them was always a good thing in Carnage´s book.

They pass the rest of the night; a pretty cold night, a bit odd for the season but not an impossibility; enjoying the hospitality of the Kobolds, learning of the latest news about their destiny. As soon as the remnants of the Kobold Talon appeared, the Kobolds and the Lizardmen guards, made an improvised fence on the entrance, with a trio of Lizardmen guards always keeping watch of the place, just in case something unpleasant exited. The guards have not reported anything unusual, except that they can not stand too much time near the Cave, they feel sick, cold and had the urge to leave the place and move into the nearest sunny spot they could found.

Carnage said nothing but cold and sick were the usual symptoms of the survivors of a [Death magic] spell. The [Arcane system] branch caused harm to the body and the soul, ripping the heat and the vitality out of their victims, among the cold-blooded races, like their kin, they would feel those same symptoms in a stronger fashion than other races.

Carnage was now convinced that there was [Death magic] involved, but he keeps munching his salted Grub, surprising the Kobolds quite a lot, as he was the first Lizardman that could eat Grub like that and do not even grimace. Carnage shrugged and exchange a little banter with his Talon about his tastes, commenting that a fillet of juicy Bronto, salt, Grub and goat cheese put inside brown and crusty wheat bread was one of the best things he has eaten in his life.

Little he knew that he has just taught the Kobolds and by extension the rest of the Empire; the concept of a sandwich. Soon all the farmers of the Empire were carrying sandwiches as part of their traveling food, and thanks to the salt, cheese, and Bronto meat, not few Lizardmen started to eat those too, the mixture of savors were enough to keep the taste of the Grub away and it was easy to carry and filled their stomachs. Fortunately, Carn did not learn of that little fact until way later, but in all, it was a pretty nice trend to follow. That would mean that Carn would found sandwich around more often, and would not have to fight with the cooks to made them understand that he liked the Grub.

The morning came, and the well-rested Talon prepared for the travel to the Cave, but before they started, Carnage told them that it was time to enact the magic protection ritual. From then on, it was a quick hour travel to the Cave, being protected against any possible traps and the effects of what was affecting the Lizardman guards was the clever thing to do.

Storm gladly accepted the idea, anything that increased their survival chances was more than welcome and the magic of Carnage; if one trusted the Guides opinion; was of tremendous potency. Pity they couldn't set up the nine days version of the ritual, but Carnage has already explained that he would need the help of at last three more spellcasters, downing the numbers of individuals protected by four, and he would need some pretty expensive and rare components for the ritual, some of them could only be founded in Asgard.

Storm's Talon was composed of eight members, warbeasts included, even if they are only mounts, they are valuable companions and allies that has protected and transported them, and would do in the future as soon as they are deployed to the front lines. It was only thanks to the unusually strong magic of Carnage that they can cover the entire Talon with the Ritual. Far from being an expert spellcaster; Storm only dominated the [Sky magic] and only because his affinity to it; Storm understood that the Ritual that Carnage knew was usually made by a Talon of spellcasters, each one adding their power to the ritual, that transferred back as a good protection against [Arcane system] magic. Carnage and the rest of the Talon would have to pour all the magical power they had to not only protect themselves but their warbeasts as well.

Helped by the Kobolds, Carnage soon set clean a little piece of terrain, sorting all kind of items from his Servant Carravers and making all the preparations needed for the Ritual. Storm, Rain, and Leaf observed him with curiosity, none of them had an affinity for Rituals; it was an ongoing joke, that the lack of affinity for the [Arcane system] that pretty much anyone had, was compensated by his affinity to the [Ritual system]. After a while, as Carnage instructed the Kobolds with patience and kindness, only Rain had the valor to inquire a little more about what he was doing. For Rain, learning this could perhaps help to her future Cavalry division, and it would protect her adored Swiftclaw from hostile magic.

"Carnage?", asked the azure Lizardman. "Can you tell us about the ritual".

"Aye, it will be a pleasure", quickly answered Carnage, who picked a large and decorated staff from Carravers and started to draw in the cleared terrain.

"This Ritual is called [Algiz]", revealed Carnage the name of the Ritual. "It is originally from the Asgard Kingdom, I will draw the Sacred Runes, I will offer an adequate sacrifice for the earth, I will call for the protection of Tiamat and then we will stand in specific points of the drawing, will offer a single drop of our blood to the Ritual and it will create a Rune in our right arms, that will glow in gold and will vanish, exactly nine hours later".

"It doesn't seem too complicated", hopefully, commented Rain, seeing the utility of the ritual. "I was convinced that Rituals are tremendously complicated and it was needed a lot of effort to learn even the more basic ones".

"The original ritual demanded nine priestesses of Frigga chanting and dancing, in a mystical trance, for nine hours", deadpanned Carnage in response. "Successive spellcasters of the Dragon Empire has done all they could to shorten the Ritual, into something that could be done in about an hour; still, I will be praying and intoning the words of the Ritual for an hour and will have to shoulder the majority of the magic sacrifice, as I am the one with the bigger magical reserves".

"I stand corrected", soberly said Rain and Carnage chuckle.

"Do not worry Rain, I will be happy to show you a simpler version". Laughed Carnage, carefully drawing a crude representation of the three branched trees in the middle of a big circle. "It is not considered as a Ritual, but more akin to a quick prayer and a minor blessing from Tiamat, but it will give you and your warbeast a low protection against magic, but is better than nothing, aye?".Smiled Carnage with a fanged smile.

"Thanks, Carnage". Smiled back Rain.

"A pleasure, Rain; the [Ritual system] is a bit of a passion for me, teaching them to a Talon companion is an honor". Shrugged Carnage ending the drawing, exactly at the top of the tree and kneeling he put his hand over the symbol and started to chant in a rude and crude voice that surprised his Talon for the sudden change of tone.

It was not the Dragon Empire Language, from it, Dragon Empire´s native tongue was full of hiss and whistles. The language that Carnage was using was crude, full of cracks and grunts like he was ripping a piece of flesh with his teeth; at last, that was the sensation that Carnage´s Talon had about what he was doing. In truth, Carnage was using a forgotten language; completely butchering the pronunciation, by the way, as his vocal cords were not made to emulate the sounds; it was the tongue of an ancient civilization from the other side of the Cold Sea. A land of luminous tyrants and blind devotion to a confusing ideal.

After the first ten minutes of constant chanting, the rest of Carnage´s Talon realized that he would be like that for an hour, and dispersed; using the time to prepare their warbeasts and weapons for the short travel and the entrance into the Rumbling Cave.

Storm sharpened his heavy swordstaff, one of the creations of Carnage, and a weapon that he found perfect for him and any flying warbeast rider in the Stormrage Clan forces. It was designed after a Chinese Guan-dao. Rain was sharpening her sword and checking her shield, enjoying a bit of spare time with her ride, _Windcutter;_ she was truly attached to the female white and blue Swiftclaw, however, her Talon has seen her in action and pitied the poor bastard in front of such a terrible combo. Leaf was silently counting his arrows and checking that the string of his hunting bow was perfectly fine; his accuracy was great and with the reinforced string and bow that he was carrying, he could pierce the body of an armored horse at one hundred feet of distance.

Almost an hour later, Carnage finally stopped, and with a hoarse voice, he asked for some water. The Kobolds rushed to him with a filled water pelt and he drank it all in long gulps; thanking the Kobolds he picked up a bowl and squashed and apple, tossing the bits and pieces of the fruit in the bowl, he added a broken toe-nail; perhaps one of his own broken claws; one of his own scales; that gunmetal gray color was unmistakable; and with the help of a mortar he keep grinding the mixture as he kept mumbling things under his breath. Once he was satisfied with the resulting mixture, he walked back to the drawing and deposited the bowl in the middle of the tree-like symbol.

"Its almost done". Said to his Talon, that got close to him, observing the final preparations of the Ritual. "Now, you must place yourselves and our warbeast outside the circle".

With _Bloodjaw_ at Carnage´s back and his Talon in front of him at the other side of the symbol, Storm with his Wyvern at the peak of the "tree" and Rain and Leaf at each of their sides, Carnage instructed them to fulfill the last part of the ritual, depositing a drop of their blood in the symbol and praying in Tiamat´s name. If the Ritual works, they would notice a tingling sensation and the apparition of a rune like the one in the floor in their right hands, in the case of the warbeast, not sure, but it will appear.

They ended the Ritual by praying together, asking for the protection of Tiamat. Thanks to their constant travels to the infirmary, they knew the prayer to the letter, as the Priests and healers recited it every time they cast their magic on them.

As Carnage promised, a golden glow covered the symbol, making the bowl disappear and a tingling sensation covered their bodies. With a little flash, the runes etched without pain in their right claws. Guided by the curiosity, Storm asked Carnage about the allocations of the Ritual, Carnage shrugged and said it was a symbolic thing more than anything else. In [Rituals] everything was important, like the one casting the ritual, Carnage was the base, like the one that commanded him, Storm was the peak of the tree. Symbolism and similar things had their importance in [Rituals].

Not to mention that Carnage has to pay for five of them, Storm was more than capable of covering his own, however, none of the warbeast could add power to the Ritual and none of other two, individually, had magical power enough to cover their quota of the Ritual, but with the kind of power that Carnage had at his disposal, it was a drop in a bloody ocean.

 **End Chapter.**

 **Character Info:**

 **Name:**

Carnage "Carn" Runescales of the Stormrage Clan.

 **Race:**

Lizardman Overlord- Level 63

 **Talon:**

Leader: Storm Thundercry (Wyvern rider "Thunderfury) [King]

-Carnage Runescales (Butcherclaw rider"Bloodjaw") [Overlord]

-Rain Swiftjaws (Swiftclaw rider""Windcutter") [Swiftclaw Rider]

-Leaf Windtamer (Swiftclaw rider"Pathfinder") [Pathfinder]

 **Unique Skills:**

-Circle of Usurpation: Much like the Authority, Carn can steal a Skill/Authority/Trait from the body of a defeated enemy, but only if it has been defeated by him.

-Divine´s Bane: As former Devil King, Carn is the bane of any divine spellcaster or divine creature.

-We want grandbabies!- Pandora and Epimeteo, wanted grandbabies to spoil, like it or not, Carn would have a harem.

 **Skills/Traits/Abilities.**

-God of Magic: Carn can learn any kind of magic, thanks to the Blessing of Pandora.

-Oldest soul: Carn had all the memories of Magnus Blacksson, the strongest and Oldest Campione of a bygone era. As magic comes from the soul, he had a godly reserve of magic to fuel his spells.

-Arcane System:

-Earth Magic Tier 3 1- [Echo]/ 2-[Metal sense]/3-[Earthcraft]

-Sky Magic Tier 1 1-[Feather fall]

-Body Magic Tier 3 1-[Buff]/2-[Heal]/3-[Regenerate]

-Mind Magic Tier 1 1-[Zero Mind]

-Abyss Magic Tier 3 1-[Night Spear]/2-[Dark Mantle] /3-[Abyssal walker]

Death magic Tier 1 1-[Death senses]

-Necromancy affinity Tier 3 1/2/3 [Summon Undead Servants Skeletons/Shadow Skeletons/Draugr]

-Ritual System:

-Unseen Servant: Carn can summon a Servant that acts as Steward, cleaning crew, cook, and infinite warehouse. He called the androgynous being of pure magic, Carravers It does have the sense of humor of an English butler.

-Algiz: Provides Magic Resistance (Arcane, Divine, and Ritual But NO Kinesis) for nine hours/days/years to a maximum of nine individuals depending on the magic power, components, sacrifices, etc.

-Revenant: Creates a powerful undead servant called Revenant.

 **Usurped Skills/Traits/Abilities/etc:**

 **Skills:**

-Pyrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural fire.

-Electrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural electricity.

-Acidkinesis: Carn can create and manipulate dangerous acids.

-Webbing: Carn can generate natural webbing of three colors steel, gold and red, he can project it from fingertips, mouth, tail tip and ass.

 **Blessings:**

-Red Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the red head of Tiamat, Carn domain over fire is way superior to the rest of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Green Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the green head of Tiamat, Carn is the best poisoner of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Black Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the black head of Tiamat, Carn is the best Necromancy user of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

 **Traits:**

-Spit Poison: Carn can spit poison of varying virulence.

-Poisonproof: Carn is immune to all natural poison and highly resistant against magical poisoning

-Walk Walls: As a spider, Carn can walk barehanded/footed over non-slippery/wet surfaces

-Spiderkin: All Spiders considers Carn one of them, thanks to the effect of the [We want Grandbabies] bless, all female Arachnes found Carn specially Alluring.

-Stone Mimetic: Took the appearance, texture, and smell of the surrounding rocks, but not his hardness.

-Fireproof: Carn is immune to all kind of natural fire and highly resistant against magical fire.

-Blindsight: Perfect, 360º sight at 10 meters, no matter the conditions.

-Stone carving claws: 12 inches twin stingers from his forearms capable of cutting and carving stone with easiness.

-Mimetic: Carn can mimetic with the environment, better than any chameleon would do.

-Corrosive Stench: Carn could generate acridly, nauseate and acid sweat.

-Hardened scales: Carn´s scale hardness is massively increased.

-Blood drinker: Carn can absorb the blood of his preys, healing himself from even crippling wounds.

-Elasticity: Carn can make his body as elastic as a pile of goo, without losing any strength or resistance.

-Tireless body: As soon as his magic can keep exhaustion at bay, Carn will not tire.

-Sharp scales: Carnage scales could turn sharp and edgy, wounding anything that touched them without protection.

-Might of the predator: Carnage muscles are denser, stronger and more durable than they should, giving him strength, way beyond his size.


	4. Saga II

**3.2- Saga II**

Now ready to tackle their Saga, the Talon said goodbye to the amicable Kobold farmers and moved out, covering the distance to the entrance of the Cave in less than an hour.

As soon as they reached the Cave, all of them noticed something was definitely wrong. Even without the protection, the rune softly glowed signaling hostile magic around; they could already feel the wrongness of the place. It was cold and devoid of any life, even the stone and earth around look even more gray and dry than usual. Not to mention that the improvised fence was wide open and there was not even a clue of the destiny of the supposed guards placed in the entrance.

The Talon soon dismount and hastened their warbeast to get out the place, with the runes protecting them, they were safe, but in the confined spaces of the Cave, especially for _Thunderfury_ and _Bloodjaw_ , they will be at a disadvantage. The Warbeasts protested and groaned, but at the end, they were bonded to their riders and obeyed, patrolling the skies and surrounding lands, looking out for enemies, that smelled as wrong as this place.

Thanks to his affinity to [Earth magic], Leaf, as [Pathfinder] took a point and prepared a quick spell that would guide them to the nearest source of life from their position. Rain right after him, Storm in the middle and Carnage covering the rear, the Talon entered the accursed place, with their weapons ready.

Much to the surprise of Carnage, who expected something a bit more elaborate; not even a minute since they entered in the dark and damp cave; with a nauseating, rotting, smell assaulting their sensitive nostrils constantly; they were attacked by the previous guardians of the Cave.

A quintet of muscular Lizardmen; scales rotten and decayed along their limping and lifeless bodies; stumbled down the entrance path, to intercept them, carrying a mixture of crude weapons like clubs and a spiked mace. Leaf and Rain change places as Storm joined her in the charge against the undead minions. The Talon had a cold fury bubbling in their heads, even for a cold-blooded race like their Kin, enslaving the dead like this was a bit too much, especially when they were nothing but honest and loyal Lizardmen who were only trying to protect their homes and Kin from whatever was dwelling down the cave.

Rain and Storm soon engaged in combat, as Leaf raise his bow and took aim, trying to pierce the brains of one of this rotten parodies, and with luck, putting an end to their suffering. Carnage, on the other hand, rested the blunt side of his cleaver over his shoulder and eyed the undead with a widening eye. [Necromancy], a magic that is usually seeing hand to hand with [Death magic] but, five bodies? relatively conserved and capable of swinging weapons?. That´s some serious talent or a powerful spellcaster that could create hordes of servants. None of them good perspectives for Carnage´s Talon. With a word and a snap of his fingers, Carnage created a spear of pure darkness and toss it to one of the undead Lizardmen.

Carnage has already mastered some spells from the [Abyss Magic] branch, this spell concretely, the [Night Spear], is especially useful against armored targets, but the real trick was the unique power of the [Abyss magic] to consume or disrupt magic of the [Arcane and Divine systems]. Practically all [Magehunters] out there had an affinity with [Abyss magic] or are seriously proficient on it. As Carnage expected, the scales were pierced like they were not even there and the objective of his spell collapsed like a sack of potatoes when the magic that reanimated it was destroyed by the [Night Spear].

No undead construct, these were reanimated bodies.

Whoever did this was either a foreigner or a rogue Lizardman. No sane Lizardman would have profaned the bodies of its Kin in such a crude and disgusting manner. As true it may be, that [Necromancy] has his place in the Dragon Empire armies, it was usually used on the corpses of the enemies and undead constructs; only been used on kin, under the direst of the circumstances. The responsible for this has not only killed five Lizardmen but has reanimated them as undead parodies of what they were. There is no need to stress how the Talon was eager to make, whoever did this, pay with bloody interest.

But Carnage has his suspicious, that this was going to be one of those headache-inducing moments on where the implications of simply hanging the aggressor on the wall, by the balls, was going to end in a political nightmare. Fortunately, the kin of the Dragon Empire was simpler in that regard, in comparison with the other races, thanks to the fact that they were a tight-knitted bunch.

If the response was a rogue Lizardman, Storm Talon´s would be greatly respected for dealing with that aberrations to the Dragon Empire order and society. On the other hand, if, and only if, the responsible was someone with enough power to command an entire Clan to slow down their investigations and reaction Talons; Carnage suspected that this Saga could lead to decades of grudges between his Clan and the Grimmwhisper Clan, precisely the last thing they need considering the bloody war that the Dragon Empire was scales deep into.

Sending the five Lizardman back to the realm of the dead was an easy task for the Talon, and it was Rain the one that claimed two of the deaths, as she moved, fast like a lightning, between her enemies, quickly beheading one and stabbing the head of the other before they could even raise their weapons. Rain was swift as the wind, and always targeted vital points, in all the spars the Talon had with the agile Lizardman, they have learned to respect her speed and accuracy.

The Talon discussed a bit about what to do with the corpses, they all agree on the matter that they can not leave here; not only because it will be disrespectful for the dead Lizardmen, but for the more pragmatic idea that they would attract all kind of critters and scavengers, endangering the nearby farms.

But none of them had the slightest idea of [Fire magic], and trying to electrocute the bodies until they were ash, was a waste of power and time; they are running against the clock, with seven hours and a half left of magical protection from the ritual, and they had barely scratched the beginning of the Cave. Carnage offered to deal with the bodies, he may not have [Fire Magic] but he did have a ritual that asked for the blessing of the Red head of Tiamat, creating a bonfire, that will suffice to deal with the corpses.

Actually, it was a load of bull; well, up to a point. Carnage did have a Ritual to call for the blessing of the Red head of Tiamat, but it granted protection against fire, not generated fire. What Carnage pretended to do, was to quickly prepare the bodies and after a quick prayer to Tiamat, incinerate the corpses with his [Pyrokinesis]. That would be enough to prevent scavengers and to send the souls to Tiamat, paying adequate homage and freeing them from his undead indignity.

It didn't take him more than a quarter of hour, approximately; Carnage did make haste in clearing the bodies of the five Lizardmen, entering back to Cave, ready to join his Talon, who was spread a little inside the Cave; although never missing the other positions, to look out for any clues that indicated what has been happening here.

So far, they knew that someone with [Death magic] or [Necromancy] was here, possible a powerful spellcaster, but without any more clues, they will reserve their judgment and be prepared for anything. The Talon was now tremendously grateful for the proficiency of Carnage in the [Ritual system], in the verge of entering the lair of a proficient [Death magic] spellcaster, magic protection was more than welcome.

Unfortunately, the Cave spread in several ramifications, even now they could hear the winds and the currents of air that entered from natural grounds, making a rumbling sound. Now they understood the name of the Cave and internally groaned for the added complication, as the sounds difficulties any vocal communication. Unfortunately, they did lack any [Telepathy] or [Mind Magic] talent, Carnage mostly knew how to defend himself against mind attacks and illusions but he was no [Telepath] by any stretch of the imagination.

With a quick glance, they realized that the Cave was bigger than they had anticipated and they would have to divide the Talon and look out into the different caves that spread from the main one. It was an intern network of caves that could extend for miles, exploring it entirely could take them days, not counting any possible ambush/traps that whoever is inside could have settled; being the previous undead Lizardmen the proof that something was going on and the attacks would; most possibly; repeat.

The Talon separated in two, Storm and Rain, and Leaf and Carnage. A spellcaster and a fighter in each one of them. Storm and Rain entered into a cave that smelled weird, judging from Rain comments, and Leaf and Carnage followed the tracks of the undead Lizardman. The [Pathfinder] has conjectured that the spellcaster that has reanimated them has surely brought them in, and then reanimate them, so, the tracks of the undead Lizardman could guide to the main room of the Caves. It was a long shot, as the undead could have simple being lollygagging all over the cave without any purpose other than intercept intruders.

Leaf took the point and tracked the traces of the undead guards, followed by Carnage, who was carefully following the [Pathfinder] in silence, and already preparing a quick spell, another [Night Spear] just in case another undead minion appear out of nowhere and tries to kill them.

Leaf was a silent fellow most of the times; but when he was in the wilds, there was no better explorer and scout in all the Talons. If Leaf said that there was something out there, Carnage will trust him, Leaf was way more versed and knowledgeable about surviving on the wilds than Carnage would ever be. The silent [Pathfinder], however, was tense; the permanent sensation of wrongness that this place exuded was almost palatable for him, even with the rune protection, Leaf was uncomfortable, the nature in this place has been...culled, into something dark and dried. Leaf didn't like it at all.

Carnage was more worried about the level of magic that he was sensing here. Without any further proof, he will be quiet about it, but he fell; pretty much like Leaf, but an entirely different manner; how the remnants of powerful magic have slipped inside the stone and earth of the Cave.

Proof would be the absolute lack of life, no critters, no insects, not even fungus or lichen on the more humid parts of the cave. That was not natural, and only furthered Carnage suspicions of powerful magic on the action. Carnage cursed his own weakness, even after all the training and tutoring, he knew that he was not prepared to face the real horrors of this world. As Lizardman surely he was powerful, but in the scale of the world outside, he was nothing but fresh meat, and Carnage hated that sensation.

As they got deeper into the Caves; Leaf had to move back a couple of times, as they found an inside waterfall and the undead has stepped into the waters muddling their tracks; the cold and draining sensation accentuated more, perhaps Leaf has nailed it, and they were getting closer to the origin of all this, but Carnage was not that convinced of it.

Magic permeated the place, and it the worst way possible, destroying all the life around and leaving the Cave as a lifeless hole in the ground, but in order to do that, it was needed an absurd quantity of magic, the kind of magic that was part of the legends. If it was like that, Carnage´s Talon was pretty much screwed.

They encountered more guardians, this time some reanimated beast of the wilds; a Nightstalker whose rattling tail was gray and lifeless hanging from a putrid tendon; and its escort of skeleton warriors. As soon as Carnage saw the skeletons he knew that they were in for a tough battle, they were not the usual variation of skeletons; their bones look like they had shadows crawling over them, showing the magic that created and animated them and that was barely contained by the magical construct. They will be faster, stronger, tougher and would be resistant to all kind of magic except the weakness of all undead, [Fire magic], [Sun magic] and the [Divine system].

"Don't bother with the arrows", informed Carnage to Leaf before the [Pathfinder] could shot his bow. "The skeletons would not even fell it, those are [Shadow Skeletons] a stronger, tougher and more dangerous variant of the basic [Skeletons] than any [Necromancy magic] user could pull out of his bag at any moment".

"Then?", simply asked Leaf downing his bow.

"Blunt weapons and put all you have on each strike", shrugged Carnage calling in for Carravers with a thought and the Servant soon appeared with a pair of Shellbreakers, adequate for their sizes as Lizardmen.

"Something else, my Lord?". Sighed the Servant, looking tired for carrying the two big-ass weapons around. It was a trait of its character, it can´t tire as it was made of pure magic and was always stored inside Carnage´s soul.

"That would be all, thank you Carravers". Carnage ignored completely the tone of the Servant and pass one of the weapons to Leaf who smiled wickedly and made a couple of swings to get accustomed to the weapon.

The Servant nodded once and with a tired sigh, vanished in thin air. Carnage left the weapon on the floor for a couple of seconds as he channeled power into his [Night Spear] and with a powerful throw, sent the lethal projectile to the zombie-like Nightstalker, killing the beast for the second time. As the beast collapsed, the skeletons turned to them in perfect coordination and raising their weapons; an eclectic mix of swords and axes, along with shields; started to run in their direction with a curious, rattling, sound.

Leaf move first and intercepted the charge of the skeletons, by downing his Shellbreaker and smashing the arm, shoulder, and shield of the first one, before swinging the weapon in a recovery strike and vaporize the head of the skeleton, with a loud crunching sound. Carnage gave a couple of steps back and vanished in the shadows of the wall, just to reappear over the heads of the last skeleton of the charge, falling over them like a wolf over a bleeding prey and smashing them to tiny bits with brutality.

Carnage has already mastered enough the [Abyss magic] branch, to be able to use the spell called [Abyssal walker] that allows a spellcaster to enter into a shadow and exit by another on the caster sight. Carnage has used the spell to quickly bypass the skeletons and caught them by the rear. In this caves and corridors, using a Shellbreaker was practically consuming all the available space, trying to fight side by side with Leaf was impossible.

Carnage instead, had ambushed the skeletons, who were now obliged to fight two enemies that can crush their bones by pure raw force. In the perfect circumstances, that should have been enough to deal with them, but this [Shadow Skeletons] are made of a tougher material and they did not relent, increasing the attack and leaning on their strength as undead, they managed to gave Leaf and Carnage quite the workout.

Well, more Leaf, as he was the one sporting some minor wounds and several scales chipped, but the [Pathfinder] was smiling, it has been a very nice battle. Carnage, on the other hand, wasn't even sighed, and just collected any piece of bone that has survived the destruction. [Shadow Skeleton] bones are powerful [Death magic] components that can be used in several [Rituals], leaving them here to decompose was a total waste.

Carravers protested, on its ironic and monotone way, but the Servant compiled and recovered quite the haul of bones, even two entire skulls. Carnage knew that the skeletons would have it really hard to wound him, especially between [Hardened scales] and [Sharp scales] that basically turned Carnage´s scales in armor and weapon all at once. But Leaf was not that fortunate; Carnage helped his Talon companion with a quick spell of the [Body magic] branch. Carnage could heal, up to a point, thanks to his mastery over the basis of the [Body magic] branch, but to be honest, he has more prepared to regenerate any damage to his body, than to heal anybody else.

Quickly recovering from the attack, the two of them changed tracks, and this time, Leaf started to follow the tracks of the undead Nightstalker. This patrol was not there by chance, they were patrolling a source of water, that means that the one that has summoned them was alive or need a constant supply of fresh water. It was a bit of a relief, the last thing Carnage wanted to face was a powerful undead spellcaster. Carnage has read about the Undead races and variants, all of them was a bloody pain in the ass to deal with.

From undead spellcaster known as Liches to Vampires, Ghouls, Zombie Masters, etc, etc. The list was long and complex, and everybody can become one of them. The conditions to some of them are very specific and required of full cooperation of the one that wanted to become an undead, and others were just a matter of the worst luck ever. Even Kin was vulnerable to this, especially the nastiest transformations of the list.

As expert in Rituals, Carnage knew, or better said, he read about a ritual that could turn a dead individual into a living semblance of what it was, but instead of a full resurrection, something practically impossible unless you are a deity, it only created a complex set of patterns and orders in the mind of the reanimated individual, turning it, into a stronger slave of the spell caster; all the undead advantages with all the talents and the skills of the individual.

[Revenants], were called, and they were among the most dangerous foes one can ever face.

The [Shadow Skeletons] were not the only ones that Carnage and Leaf had to face to went deeper into the caves, at this point, Leaf was convinced that they were several dozens of meters under the earth, way past the supposed size of the Rumbling Cave.

Someone has been doing some serious excavations, and that only means that whatever was going on here, has been in the process for way more than the first reports of real problems come to the attention of the Guides of the Stormrage Clan Den. The Talon´s theory; that the Grimmwhisper had seriously botched it up and now they were cleaning up their mess; started to get too real for their liking. Grimmwhisper were a bunch of, seriously dangerous [Death magic] masters. If one of them was the responsibility of this; and Pandora protects them if it was a higher evolution; the Talon was not only screwed but in their merry way to becoming undead too.

In ominous silence, as they fought another patrol of skeletons; Leaf and Carnage now always had their Shellbreakers ready, seeing that the skeleton kind of undead was become more and more numerous and filling each corridor of the deep caves; they continue traveling down the difficult and progressively darker environment of the cave.

For a second, they felt a wave of nostalgia, as it was a drier but colder, version of the cave where they started the path to become part of the Stormrage Clan when they were nothing but Kobold hatchlings. The scarce light of the sun that filtered from creaks and holes in the surface of the caves was all the light the had, and even with their good night vision, traveling further in the darkness will carry their own dangers, as undead, had no such difficulties.

But at some point of their descent, a flickering light danced in the border of their vision, there was light down there. Leaf hissed that he could barely see the light of a torch and Carnage trusted his companion, [Blindsight] was good, but it only reached thirty feet more or less, not enough to catch up any long range detail, but wonderful for this narrow spaces, especially any unseen attackers from shadowy corners or hidden traps.

As they readied their weapons and moved to the flickering light, both Carnage and Leaf feared the worst and were eager to finally see the end of this bloody cave. This Saga has not been all that dangerous, at last for them, but they were not that arrogant to believe that they had it easy. Death permeated the place, and they still could join the ranks of the undead if their arrogance clouded their judgment, unfortunately, as they got closer to the light, they started to pick up the noise of battle, and the unmistakable roar of Storm.

Without a second of hesitation, Carnage grabbed Leaf and jumped into the nearest shadow; big enough for the both of them; surging from the darkness just in front of the flickering light. They rushed in, weapons ready, just to enter into a massive room; somewhere in the deeps of the cave; and observe how Storm and Rain were sweating blood to fend themselves as good as they could, against a horde of skeletons and reanimated Kin.

The horde was led by a cloaked kin; impossible to determinate of what kind, but the tail, claws out of the sleeves of his cloak and jaw that exited from the borders of his cloak, was enough proof of its identity; who was engaged in a magic duel with Storm.

The leader of the Talon was doing all he could to keep the cloaked spell caster busy, with a mix of his [Sky magic] and his [Electrokinesis] but the spellcaster defenses were top notch and the electricity died and sparked around, unable to pierce the magical defenses. Trapped as Storm was in that duel, all the defense labors came to Rain, who was not accustomed to it, as she was an aggressive, precise, kind of fighter and now had to keep blocking all strikes that tried to put an end to Storm´s life.

With a roar, Leaf and Carnage joined the battle, pushing back the first wave of enemies, and giving Rain, a very needed respite.

"About time", hissed Rain, whose immaculate azure scales, were now pierced and broken, blood freely falling from dozens of wounds and cuts. "Where, on Tiamat´s name, were you?".

"Tracking armies of skeletons", shrugged Leaf and smashed ahead, swinging his Shellbreaker in wide arcs, sending all his enemies flying in battered remains. He was starting to become quite proficient with the heavy mace; Leaf could see why people like Fang was in love with the weapon, it was bloody satisfactory to see your enemies reduced to paste.

"What he said", shrugged Carnage grabbing Rain by the shoulder and focus on his [Body magic]. "Now stand still, you need healing". She shivered as the power of Carnage filtered inside her body through her scales, numbing the pain and the discomfort of her wounds, and shutting them, preventing any more blood loss.

"Thanks, but make haste, Storm cannot hold the bastard for much longer", she hissed in the direction of the strained Storm, whose scales were paling at an alarming rate and whose frown could be seen in the middle of the sparks of power that clashed between the spellcasters. Even with the help of the rune, glowing in fierce gold, Storm was obviously outclassed in the magical department.

"That bastard´s head, is going to hang on my wall tonight", promised Carnage, taking his claw out of the shoulder of Rain, she still needs a lot of healing, but that would be enough to keep her fighting.

"Done, now, go and gave them hell", hissed in laughter Carnage and Rain smiled in her predatory manner and run to join Leaf on the attack. This time, she was going to be the one bringing death, and not trying to keep a line.

"Storm, duck!". Roared Carnage, grabbing a big piece of the stone of the walls and tossing it with enough power to turn an adult bull into a paste. Carnage followed with a quick, but not less powerful, [Night Spear] hidden in the shadow of the boulder that he has thrown like it was nothing.

Storm obeyed immediately, recognizing the voice; in absolute relief that his Talon was at his side now; and keeping a cloak of electricity around him, Storm ducked, seeing how a massive shadow passed over his head, followed by a piece of the night turned into a spike of some sort.

The boulder and the spear clashed against the spells and defenses of the mysterious spell caster and forced it to gave a step back, surprised for the sudden boulder; a catapult would have it hard to imitate such a powerful impact.

Before the spell caster could recover, Carnage has already covered the distance that separated him from Storm and has taken his place as opponent of the cloaked spellcaster, a [Night Spear] in one hand and several; lesser sized; round stones floating around him, Carnage´s scales glowed in the darkness, as this was the first time that he was using so many powers at once.

[Body], [Earth], [Abyss] and [Mind magic] burned through him, enlightening his golden, rune-like, markings in a show of power. Carnage and the spellcaster stare at each other and without the need of any gloating or vacuous bravado, they started to try to kill each other.

The cloaked spellcaster continued with an effective combination of [Death magic] life draining spells, but the protection of the [Aglyz] and Carnage´s own domain over the [Abyss magic], that disrupts any kind of [Arcane system] magic, rend the spells useless.

Carnage, on the other hand, kept tossing stones at the spell caster, each one capable of crushing the chest of a Lizardman with easiness. The spell was called [Earthcraft], essentially, it granted control over all natural earth in a short distance, Carnage was using it, to create a veritable hail of boulders that would keep the spellcasters on its toes, and divert his attention to summon more reinforces to the horde.

Now, that the Talon was together, the trio of companions of Carnage was pushing the undead back. Skeletons and reanimated Kin were no match for the brutal strikes of Leaf or the agility of Rain, not to mention the furry of earth-shattering strikes that Storm can create with his swordstaff.

Covering each other flanks, the trio formed a spearhead and pierced the horde, crushing and shredding any obstacle in their path with the efficiency that only cold-blooded kin like them can pull, and who can only be topped by the undead relentless tenacity.

Unfortunately, the Talon knew that this was a battle of attrition and the horde of undead was more than enough to tire them; once tired, they will commit mistakes and a single mistake here, could mean the assassination of the entire Talon. But they continued fighting, ignoring the tiredness and the wounds that they were receiving, just by the sheer number of enemies that they were facing.

Using one of another Fang´s favorite quotes, "there were more bastards than hands".

Meanwhile, Carnage was fighting on three fronts.

The first front was keeping up with the barrage of spells that this anonymous bastard was sending his way; all [Death magic] spells, with multiple variations but all were from the same branch, at the same time, the cloaked bastard was raising more and more undead. Carnage cursed under his breath, [Necromancy] unless they kill the fucker, he will keep creating undead, as long as he had magic to feed them.

Now, that sent Carnage for a loop and that was the second front he was dealing with.

From where was the cloaked spell caster dragging such amount of power?. Carnage was an exception thanks to his [Oldest Soul], but this one was not irradiating power as Carnage was doing; knowing full well that his body, Lizardman or not, was not prepared for such a burst of power; instead, he must he dragging power somewhere and Carnage used [Echo] a basic spell of the [Earth magic] branch, to essentially, map the cave and its surroundings.

The findings were not what he expected, not even in his wildest conjectures would Carnage have guessed the bullshitery that he has found.

And that was the third front, analyzing, and trying to understand what the heck was he seeing and why the [Death magic] spellcaster has been doing all this; for quite a while, if one has to judge by the number of reanimated corpses being butchered by his Talon and the permanent filtering of residual [Death magic] to the stone and earth of the cave.

It was taxing to have to focus in counter and deflect the powerful spells of the cloaked cretin, and yet try to discern what he was doing and keep an eye for his Talon, just in case the spellcaster tried to distract him by attacking his Talon, however the cloaked spell caster had his hands full with Carnage and the constant summoning of more reinforcement to his horde. thanks to the constant destruction that Storm, Leaf, and Rain were inflicting in the horde.

Carnage was confused, he would admit that he didn't understand what was the goal here.

Judging from what his [Echo] spell was revealing, the spellcaster has been infusing the earth with humongous quantities of his magic power, specially around a spot made of something different, it was not stone, it does feel like metal with the sensation and the echo that Carnage´s magic generated when it touched was odd. The item was trying to drink his magic, like a desperately thirsty person trying to drink any source of water they found.

Odd, such materials would be usually found in enchanting and in Rituals….Pandora Protect them all, now Carnage saw what was going on here.

Carnage swore loudly, almost a roar, and redoubled his efforts to kick this fool´s sorry tail all the ways to Sunday.

All the place, all the Cave was a bloody, massive, [Ritual]; a [Ritual] that would drain the souls; origin of the power for the [Ritual System]; of anything alive in hundreds of miles away, affecting both Stormrage and Grimmwhisper.

It was stupid to a limit that boggled the mind, no one in their sane mind, would try to make something like this, unless the individual was pretty desperate or totally out its mind. Carnage bet on the later, considering the powerful magic that the cloaked kin was using, the structure of the [Ritual], the emplacement, the different, similar yet different, sensations that he was receiving from more [Echo] spells mapping the place; there can be no other explanation.

But something was nagging in the back of Carnage´s mind; how come Grimmwhisper was sitting on their thumbs?; this [Ritual] is a very specific kind, a [Ritual] that feed on [Death magic] and [Necromancy]. Grimmwhisper would the logical conclusion about where to investigate it and Carnage remembered from the lesson with Thundercaller, that they were the original creators of this abomination of a [Ritual]. Created originally, to vaporize entire enemy armies and bring back from the dead, powerful champions, even if they were not in total possession of their marbles.

This cloaked fool was trying to reenact something akin to that, alas, he was trying to create the bigger and more powerful Revenant that Carnage has even read about.

There was an epigraph in one of the books that explained the [Ritual]; about how it would never be done unless the direst of the circumstances; that spoke about the cost, for reanimating a powerful champion of the Kin, one needed an adequate amount of equivalent magic power, aka souls; but, and this was a great but, Carnage has already done the numbers and this was way more than the necessary amount of power.

Whatever this fool was trying to resurrect, needed the souls of thousands?, what he trying to bring back?, a bloody deity?, and then it hit Carnage, leaving him stunned for a second.

That distraction was all the spellcaster need to gain a leverage and hit Carnage with a spell. Carnage roared in pain, as he felt how his life was being absorbed by the bastard and channeled into the massive work of magic that was taking place in the Cave. What the cloaked spellcaster didn't know, was that Carnage had a soul capable of feeding such a bloody ritual ten times over, as soon as he connected the magic forces, the [Ritual] was overloaded and the entire ritual setting; that was resting under the cave on where they have been fighting; erupted in a conflagration of magic that crashed against the ceiling of the chamber and push upwards.

Pretty much like a volcanic eruption, the floor under the battle cracked and collapsed, exploding upwards, sending all the participants flying in all directions, like rag-dolls. The waves of wild magic entered into the cave, flooding the place and all that they touched, causing severe harm to anything that didn't know what to do with to do with the massive influx of energy that they bodies were experimenting.

The undead, as they lacked any kind of individualism, started to explode in showers of magic, as the magic that sustained them and the one that crashed the pace was like water and fire, destroying each other in a spectacular manner.

Storm, Rain, and Leaf were on the floor, thrashing around as they tried to channel all the magic they could through their own affinities, waving magic left and right but suffering damages in their bodies as they were not accustomed at all to the level of power that was flooding them. Only the filtering of the [Aglyz] in their bodies, that greatly reduced the hostile magic invasion, allowed them to survive to the onslaught.

Carnage and the spellcaster fall several meters down below, as the explosion has carved a big crevice, separating Carnage from the rest of his Talon. In all, it has been a blessing, as he could let loose, showing all kind of tricks that he has to keep under wraps, otherwise, Carnage would have to give a lot of uncomfortable explanations. Both fall to a cave down them, but none of the two were the less annoyed by the fall or the waves of wild magic that should have left them, thrashing around like the rest of the Talon in the destroyed cave upon them.

Both had used the same [Feather fall] basic spell of the [Sky magic] branch, it was one of the easiest ones to learn, even if you lacked affinity for the [Sky magic] branch of the [Arcane system].

Once they both touched the floor, the contest of magic was on the full again, but this time, Carnage, even lacking an arm; drained and hanging limply from the previous drain spell; was smiling wickedly. The spellcaster lacked any clue that could explain the smile of Carnage, but suddenly, all its instincts tell him to dodge.

Right where he was a second ago, a massive jaw of stone has been close to squash him like a bug. Not a second later a rain of fire and lighting assaulted the cloaked spellcaster from all sides and much to its surprise and horror, that was natural fire and electricity. Barely raising a sacrificial pawn in the form of an armored [Shadow skeleton]; bulwark that didn't last long against the onslaught; it rolled out of the area of the attack and quickly summoned half a dozen of heavily armored undead minions, pale and rotten parodies of Kin, that surrounded him with their shields up, blocking several waves of flames and electricity bolts.

Raising its hands, the cloaked spellcaster muttered a series of short, clicking and rasping sounds, and a cold and dark mist flooded from him into the cave soon covered the ground of the ritual chamber. Much to the amazement and surprise of the spell caster, it revealed nothing and did not seem to have done anything.

Something that was supposedly impossible, no one should have survived to the [Mist of death]. The most powerful [Death magic] that he had in its arsenal, he was not used before, because it would have left him defenseless, as it was a spell, so powerful that it drained its magic power for days.

Before he could think of a strategy to compensate its sudden weakness, a thick and dense web of some kind, splattered against his back and slammed it against the floor. The undead kept defending him, but they had not seen any attack. Trashing against the webbing that has imprisoned it, the spellcaster mumbled a cursed under its breath and tried to channel the [Acidkinesis] that was the natural trait of Grimmwhisper, into an acid breath that would have released him from the webbing. But he never had the chance to pull that stunt into motion.

Like falcon over a rabbit, Carnage fall from the top of one of the irregular walls of the room; a trio of [Night Spears] fall like rain over the trapped body, overloading its defenses and leaving him without any magical protection against his next attack. Carnage slashed the trapped spellcaster with the twin [Stone carving claws] of his sane arm, cutting the webbing, but slashing deeply, crippling the spellcaster; as Carnage has severed the spinal column and slashed several internal organs.

Gurgling in agony, the spellcaster did not feel the next stab, deeply into its waist, that raise it from the ground and take it closer to the open jaws of Carnage. With bone-crushing power, Carnage bite the back of the neck of the spellcaster, crushing his neck and burying his fangs into the flesh under the scales.

At this point, the spell caster was already dead, but Carnage needed his blood. [Blood drinker] activated; as Carnage feed on the blood of the bastard, his crippled arm and wounds started to heal and regenerate quickly; even if he did not like the power, Carnage had to admit that it has come quite handy.

Tossing the corpse to the floor, now little more than a dry mummy of a Lizardman; that was his evolution under the destroyed cloak, formerly a magical item of some kind; Carnage observed how the undead that the spellcaster has summoned vanished in thin air.

Once they master was killed, they were destroyed too.

Sitting in the floor, Carnage was breathing heavily, his body was not ready for such a display of power, he was lucky that he had [Tireless] and [Oldest soul], otherwise, he would have fallen as soon as he has frozen for a second. Luckily for him, all the magic around was like a candle to the ocean that was his body, and he could move around freely without any complications.

Recovering his breath and feeling sore as hell; no matter how much he regenerated, the soreness that he felt was like a pulled muscle, it takes some time to relax and unwind all the power that he has channeled through a body that shouldn't be able to do it; Carnage smiled widely as he saw the golden glow of the [Circle of Usurpation]. Carnage almost thought that he was not going to usurp anything from this bastard; seeing that the skeletons and reanimated zombies had not provided anything. Not that they were a challenge, to begin with, even the [Shadow skeletons] were unable to cause him harm.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Grimmwhisper Lizardman Clan: Black Chosen of Tiamat Blessing Usurped]._

Carnage roared in indignation, so this was why the Grimmwhisper has been so quiet about all this shit. The Chosen one of the Black head was the one responsible for all this mess. Then the Grimmwhisper must be chewing their tails, praying to Tiamat for someone to put an end to this asshole´s stupidity.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Grimmwhisper Lizardman: Acidkinesis skill Usurped]_. Well, this was new, but not really unwelcome, acid is a powerful trick to have under one sleeve, especially when Carnage already has a trait that allowed him to create acidic sweat, now he would be able to manipulate it. Dangerous.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Renegade Priest of Tiamat: Necromancy affinity magic Usurped]_. Wait, what?. Carnage widened his eyes and channeling magic, he called forth some undead minions.

Carnage observed gobsmacked how a quintet of [Draugr]from his memories appeared from a black hole in the ground. The gray-skinned undead; all muscle and skin; were equipped with gunmetal gray chain mails, Nordic styled helmets and a variety of weapons, from swords to a vicious danish ax of the serrated blade. The eyes of the undead warriors glowed in a soft and warm gold light that betrayed their undead nature.

"Pandora protect me". Whispered Carnage, eyeing his new minions and unconsciously, he was smiling wickedly.

Shocking his head, Carnage called to Carravers, the steward appeared, observed its surroundings and deadpanned to Carnage with a "seriously?" expression painted on its no-face. But Carnage was not in the mood for bantering with the Servant and quickly ordered him to use the draugr to look out for anything valuable in all this mess and to look out for his Talon, bringing them down here for any possible healing treatment they could need.

With a quick nod and tired sigh, Carravers moved to the undead and with a chop, chop cry and an applause made the five undeads accompany him, in the task of looting the place clean.

Carnage has another task to accomplish, but before that, Carnage turned to the mummy-like remnants of the spellcaster and with a deep inhalation, used his [Pyrokinesis] to burn the corpse to ashes in a constant stream of fire, not different from how a Dragon from the legends would have breathed fire.

Whatever this asshole was trying to do, was going to be buried under tons of rubble and only Grimmwhisper and he would know the truth. The last thing the Clans need now; just in the middle of a bloody war; was to be divided and with the seeds of mistrust and grudges planted inside them. Carnage was not sure if this kind of debacles were a common thing during the Chosen one elections, but, by Pandora, it sure has come at an inconvenient time.

All the place was a big ritual chamber, Carnage has felt it with his [Echo] spell, built and crafted so it could house a powerful [Ritual] that would, theoretically, call back a [Revenant], a powerful undead with all the skills and abilities of the object of the ritual, with all the advantages of being an undead and a specifically crafted mind, according to the desires of the spell caster. The [Ritual of the Revenant] was tremendously dangerous, it demanded sacrifices, souls; in the plural; for one subject. The more powerful the objective was, the more souls should be sacrificed, up to a point that you would sacrifice entire towns or even countries. The latter seems to be the case, as the foolish spell caster was trying to awake one of the most powerful entities of this world.

This cretin was trying to create a [Dragon Revenant].

The second his [Echo] mapped the room, Carnage noticed the inconsistencies with the Ritual, there were protuberances under the room that should not be there. What he was seeing, was the vertebrae of the skeleton of a massive Dragon that has been buried under the room and chained to focal points of the ritual, so when the souls started to come, they will be absorbed by the focal point and channeled to the Dragon skeleton.

As a fellow spell caster and [Ritual system] user, Carnage could admire and even respect the dedication and time that the dead spellcaster has put onto the [Ritual], he should have never, ever, tried it, but Carnage could respect the skill behind it.

Advancing through the crumbled room; now that the preparation had backfired spectacularly; Carnage only had to check out for the leftovers and residual magic, observing the broken focal points and the mysterious object that has called his attention during all the [Echo] spells that he has cast to map the entire room.

The object was buried deep under the [Ritual] pattern if Carnage was correct, the square box-like object should be near the chest of the buried Dragon. A heart substitute?, perhaps the box contained the instructions for the [Revenant] and would be the main anchor for the [Dragon Revenant] to grow back to the un-life. Somehow, Carnage didn't think so; so far the [Ritual] has been placed as he knew it, but the mysterious box was a new twist. What was it´s purpose?. Carnage was really curious about it. That was why he was now digging the stone floor and with the help of his [Earthcraft] spell, it was an easy task to dig out the box and see what it really was.

What was the saying? curiosity killed the cat.

The mysterious box was no other thing than a bloody coffin, and what was worse, the coffin had Asgard Kingdom´s markings and runes all over it. It was not a lead, bare, coffin; no, nothing that easy, it was a bloody master-crafted coffin, with diamonds, rubies and made of Asgard´s Dvergar steel.

That's why it was so resistant to magic and had that strange sensation, anything not from Asgard would have been rejected, violently. Carnage slapped his own forehead in mental exhaustion when the reality behind those words hit him like a train.

One, it has reacted to him; to his soul; the soul of Magnus Blacksson, fostbraethr of Odin Borsson, All-father of Asgard. The bloody thing has recognized him as someone akin to the Asgard it came from and has started to feed on its magic.

Second, the [Ritual] was doomed since the beginning, as soon as this coffin was put in the center of it. As it has happened when the fool has tried to channel Carnage´s magic through him and into the Ritual, he has put his massive but altered magic into the coffin, and the coffin has rejected it.

Quite violently.

That means that the very same moment that the spellcaster would have started the [Ritual], as soon as he tried to filter the souls and the magical power into the coffin, it would have rejected it. A lot more violently. This cretin could have blown up a hole the size of the Stormrage´s Clan Den in the middle of the Dragon Empire.

Sighing and not really believing it; after all, the rest of the [Ritual] was perfect to the last detail, so, why this colossal screwup?; this coffin was no coincidence, it must have a purpose, why?, then, why use something that would screw the [Ritual] ten times over?.

There must be something of incredible value inside or the spellcaster was hoping for some kind of specific result, altering the base ritual into something more specific to its desires. Maybe the coffin contained the new personality of the Dragon.

All Revenants must be mentally crafted, they do keep their memories, up to a point, but their new attitude and mentality are to be crafted; very carefully; otherwise they new undead natures could take the best of them and send them into a spiral of unfinished desires and thoughts.

Carnage inspected the coffin, it was notably well-made, artisan work no doubt; surely this was expensive as hell. The Asgard Kingdom style was patent in all the surface of the coffin, it was clear that the spellcaster has stolen a coffin from the Asgard Kingdom, and that itself was more than enough to put the entire Grimmwhisper Clan in the spotlight and in the middle of a diplomatic shitstorm of epic proportions.

Asgardians took very seriously the respect for the dead, profaning a tomb, is one of the worst things you can do in the Asgard Kingdom. Luckily, the Dragon Empire and the Asgard Kingdom have been in good relation since forever, as Vidar, the All-father of Asgard was one of the oldest and best friends of Tiamat. However, this profanation could sour the relation for decades, something very uncomfortable in the middle of a war with the Southern Empire.

Dragging the coffin out of its emplacement, Carnage felt how it was chained to the ground, with reinforced chains and all of them exuding a thick aura of [Death Magic]. Blinking a pair of times for the sudden revelation, Carnage let the coffin be and with a hiss of unpleasantness for the touch of the chains, he dragged the chains, mixing his unnatural strength; thanks to [Might of the predator]; and his [Earthcraft] spell to keep dragging more and more chain out of the ground.

At the ten meters mark of chains, Carnage was silently impressed and disconcerted, the spellcaster that he has just killed has been very thorough, trough all the ritual, only to botch it up with the coffin.

At the end of the chain, Carnage found the head of the Dragon, the bone structure was thrice his own size, with a set of jaws that could cleave him in two with all the easiness of the world; the bones did radiate the same aura of [Death magic] than the rest of the place, but there was something wrong with it.

The magic was fluctuating, moving and trashing over all the organic structure; lashing against the bone walls that constricted it, with fierceness. Carnage raised the head and observed very attentively the magic pattern. There was something familiar on it, something that reminds him of something, even if he can not put his claw on it.

In the end, Carnage left the head on the floor and went back to examine the coffin. The head will be the proof they need to demonstrate that they had stopped a ritual that would have created a [Dragon Revenant], and that someone has stolen the bones of a dead Dragon from the Queen´s Den or the Clans graveyards.

The Stormrage Clan has several Dragons resting in private and sacred chambers. It was an ongoing rumor, that from time to time, some of the ancient Dragons manifest in spirit form and advice or ask Sagas to specially gifted individuals or those that have been seeking out for their advice and wisdom. Carnage was not that high in the echelon to be on the loop of the secrets of the Stormrage Clan, but Thundercaller has confided him a lot of the common occurrences in the darkest corners of the Den and he knew that this Dragon was not from his Clan.

The coffin was as interesting as the magic that circulated the Dragon remains, but as Carnage keep inspecting the coffin, he realized that the coffin and the chains were linked and he would not be able to open the coffin, without removing the chain.

Cutting them by force would be foolish; it will release the magic confined, an explosion of [Death magic] to the bloody face is Not a good idea under any circumstances. So, he would have to be subtle and try to see how to untangle the threads of magic that linked the coffin, the chains, and the dragon. This was going to be a bloody headache, he knew it.

On the bright side of things. They have bloody done it!.

The Saga was accomplished and they all are alive, wounded and sore, but alive. Sitting on the coffin, Carnage called for Carravers to stop the looting of the place and bring him a barrel of mead.

Carnage finally found a source of the beverage and generously paid a traveling merchant from the Dragon Empire to bring him some barrels. Chewing the cork out of the barrel, Carnage drank deeply from the barrel, enjoying the sweet and deep flavor of the honey-based liquid.

Now, onto the matters of the coffin, etc...why was Carnage feeling as if the magic inside the bones was staring at him?.

 **End Chapter.**

 **Character Info:**

 **Name:**

Carnage "Carn" Runescales of the Stormrage Clan.

 **Race:**

Lizardman Overlord- Level 63

 **Talon:**

Leader: Storm Thundercry (Wyvern rider "Thunderfury) [King]

-Carnage Runescales (Butcherclaw rider"Bloodjaw") [Overlord]

-Rain Swiftjaws (Swiftclaw rider""Windcutter") [Swiftclaw Rider]

-Leaf Windtamer (Swiftclaw rider"Pathfinder") [Pathfinder]

 **Unique Skills:**

-Circle of Usurpation: Much like the Authority, Carn can steal a Skill/Authority/Trait from the body of a defeated enemy, but only if it has been defeated by him.

-Divine´s Bane: As former Devil King, Carn is the bane of any divine spellcaster or divine creature.

-We want grandbabies!- Pandora and Epimeteo, wanted grandbabies to spoil, like it or not, Carn would have a harem.

 **Skills/Traits/Abilities.**

-God of Magic: Carn can learn any kind of magic, thanks to the Blessing of Pandora.

-Oldest soul: Carn had all the memories of Magnus Blacksson, the strongest and Oldest Campione of a bygone era. As magic comes from the soul, he had a godly reserve of magic to fuel his spells.

-Arcane System:

-Earth Magic Tier 3 1- [Echo]/ 2-[Metal sense]/3-[Earthcraft]

-Sky Magic Tier 1 1-[Feather fall]

-Body Magic Tier 3 1-[Buff]/2-[Heal]/3-[Regenerate]

-Mind Magic Tier 1 1-[Zero Mind]

-Abyss Magic Tier 3 1-[Night Spear]/2-[Dark Mantle] /3-[Abyssal walker]

Death magic Tier 1 1-[Death senses]

-Necromancy affinity Tier 3 1/2/3 [Summon Undead Servants Skeletons/Shadow Skeletons/Draugr]

-Ritual System:

-Unseen Servant: Carn can summon a Servant that acts as Steward, cleaning crew, cook, and infinite warehouse. He called the androgynous being of pure magic, Carravers It does have the sense of humor of an English butler.

-Algiz: Provides Magic Resistance (Arcane, Divine, and Ritual But NO Kinesis) for nine hours/days/years to a maximum of nine individuals depending on the magic power, components, sacrifices, etc.

-Revenant: Creates a powerful undead servant called Revenant.

 **Usurped Skills/Traits/Abilities/etc:**

 **Skills:**

-Pyrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural fire.

-Electrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural electricity.

-Acidkinesis: Carn can create and manipulate dangerous acids.

-Webbing: Carn can generate natural webbing of three colors steel, gold and red, he can project it from fingertips, mouth, tail tip and ass.

 **Blessings:**

-Red Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the redhead of Tiamat, Carn domain over fire is way superior to the rest of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Green Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the green head of Tiamat, Carn is the best poisoner of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

 **Traits:**

-Spit Poison: Carn can spit poison of varying virulence.

-Poisonproof: Carn is immune to all natural poison and highly resistant against magical poisoning

-Walk Walls: As a spider, Carn can walk barehanded/footed over non-slippery/wet surfaces

-Spiderkin: All Spiders considers Carn one of them, thanks to the effect of the [We want Grandbabies] bless, all female Arachnes found Carn specially Alluring.

-Stone Mimetic: Took the appearance, texture, and smell of the surrounding rocks, but not his hardness.

-Fireproof: Carn is immune to all kind of natural fire and highly resistant against magical fire.

-Blindsight: Perfect, 360º sight at 10 meters, no matter the conditions.

-Stone carving claws: 12 inches twin stingers from his forearms capable of cutting and carving stone with easiness.

-Mimetic: Carn can mimetic with the environment, better than any chameleon would do.

-Corrosive Stench: Carn could generate acid, nauseate and acid sweat.

-Hardened scales: Carn´s scale hardness is massively increased.

-Blood drinker: Carn can absorb the blood of his preys, healing himself from even crippling wounds.

-Elasticity: Carn can make his body as elastic as a pile of goo, without losing any strength or resistance.

-Tireless body: As soon as his magic can keep exhaustion at bay, Carn will not tire.

-Sharp scales: Carnage scales could turn sharp and edgy, wounding anything that touched them without protection.

-Might of the predator: Carnage muscles are denser, stronger and more durable than they should, giving him strength, way beyond his size.

 **[Author notes]**  
Thanks a lot for the review and the spoiler, Rakjo.


	5. Warslayer I

**4.1- Warslayer I**

Personally, Carnage blamed his own Talon´s competency, for all the mess that he was scales deep into.

But, let's recap a little of what happened since they defeated the Grimmwhisper spellcaster and found the coffin and the buried Dragon remains. There is no need to say that their fame grew up a notch, up to a notch one, as soon as they victoriously arrived at the Stormrage´s Clan Den with the proof of their victory and quite the tale to tell.

However, Carnage did not travel with the rest of his Talon. Carnage was very busy with the consequences of the botched ritual; the coffin and the Dragon remains; and after debating with his Talon and explaining to them what he pretended to do, especially about who was the real responsible of all this mess, they had to admit, that one lone individual taking the blame was better than tarnishing the name of an entire of the Clan.

For a cold-blooded race like the Kin; from the youngest Kobold to the oldest Dragon; honor and prestige was important. Clans are rivals in the sense that they try to outdo the actions of the other, always trying to be the best. But this [Ritual] would have been a complete disaster, even if it resulted in an astonishing success, the [Dragon Revenant] would have been hunted by the entire Dragon Empire to release the soul of the trapped Dragon.

[Revenants] of any kind, were created only by strict regulation; this one was going to be created from the desires of a crazy individual.

Well, Carnage was not sure how to feel about that. Truth to be told, if he had to chance to save one of his loved ones in the past, he would have done it without even a blink, however, this ritual was a bloody disaster in the making, even if it was successful. Something very doubtful considering the discovery of the Coffin and Dvergar Steel. The rest of the Empire would have hunted the former Chosen of the Black head and his [Dragon Revenant] to the end of the world.

Then Carnage realized something, perhaps it was not the case, perhaps this was the Chosen of the Black Head plan; to create a powerful [Dragon Revenant] and use it during the war, to become the primal candidate of being the Consort of Tiamat.

From a certain point of view, it has bloody sense, a [Dragon Revenant] was a powerful weapon, a [Dragon] under the absolute control of the spellcaster and with all the advantages of the Undead race. Using it in the war would have been an advantage or a disaster if the enemy possessed a [Necromancy] or [Death Magic] user capable of stealing the control of the [Dragon Revenant] and turn it against the Dragon Empire forces.

The blow to the morale of seeing one of the most respected evolutions, turned into a blasphemous parody and unleashed against any Clan, would have been devastating and enough tense is the things in the front lines, to add more wood to the proverbial fire.

Carnage knew that his Kin are not the emotional kind, for the Chosen of the Black Head to do something like this, there must be a very good reason, at last from his point of view. Carnage didn't give a dung about them at this point but as one wise man said once, know yourself AND the enemy and you will win all battles. Old man Sun-Tzu, Carnage believed was the origin of those sage words; when he was Magnus the Campione and was hanging around with his adoptive mother Pandora, he met the guy in the _Boundary between Realms_ and had a nice and fascinating chat with the lad.

In order to somehow fix this mess; Carnage was going to use a bit of the knowledge he had from his old life and try his hand at a powerful [Ritual], Carnage has been learning [Rituals] like a mad Lizardman, but more than following the recipe; like it was a cooking recipe; Carnage wanted to master the basics and then start to create his own [Rituals].

There is no need to say that the heavy influence of the runes and Nordic culture was always present in his work. Kind of a personal touch, a firm present in all his [Rituals]. Thanks to all the rituals that he has learned with Thundercaller, Carnage was going to liberate the soul of the [Dragon Revenant] so it can reunite with Tiamat and make haste into the afterlife. From then on, it was beyond the reach of Carnage, not really interested in dealings with the afterlife, even if he had a [Necromancy affinity] now.

[Necromancy] was a bit of a conundrum for Carnage, back in his Campione life, he possessed [Tyrfing] and one of the boons that the swords granted was the skill to call upon anyone slain by the blade into his service, as an undead warrior. Considering the carnage that the blade has carved in history, that was a lot of soldiers at one´s command.

[Necromancy] was offering Carnage, kind of the same deal. Between [Oldest Soul] and [God of Magic], Carnage could spawn undead in waves, practically creating armies of [Skeletons] in relatively quick time, and until Carnage was taken down, the [Skeletons] would keep popping. It was overwhelming, but Carnage was happy with having something akin to this under his sleeve. Carnage´s new home was at war, after all, anything that could help them to turn the tide around was a good thing in his book. Speaking of which, perhaps it was time to start to write down all his ideas about [Rituals] and spells into an appropriate Grimoire for the Stormrage Clan, but that was a task for another day.

With a careful and methodical application of [Eartcraft], [Acidkinesis], [Pyrokinesis], [Webbing], the help of dozens of undead servants and the crass comments of Carravers, as the Servant brought out of the storage the hundred of components that were needed for the [Ritual]; Carnage started to prepare the Ritual to free the soul of the Dragon, trapped in the bones.

Carnage didn't know what was the name or even the gender of the deceased Dragon, if he had to make a wild guess, he would go with the supposition that it was female. Only a female, of any species, can make anyone lose its head like this. Love is one of the most dangerous weapons in existence, it will make people fought teeth and nails for their loved ones.

Thanks, Pandora for his [Tireless body], that allow Carnage to keep working for nine hours without a pause. All the time feeling as if the magic; perhaps the soul?; of the Dragon bones was staring at him all the time. It was not a bad sensation, a bit uncomfortable, but Carnage has felt worst and perhaps, if the magic understood what he was doing, it will collaborate in his own liberation. One thing for sure, he took the Coffin out of the ritual´s emplacement; not really wanting to open it yet; just in case there was some nasty surprise inside, right now, he needed all his concentration in the [Ritual].

Leaving the coffin, on an improvised back room; created through [Earthcraft], and as far as he could from the [Ritual]; the last thing he needed was a violent rejection like the one that has taken place during the battle with the dead Chosen of the Black Head instead of what Carnage wanted.

Carnage prepared for the [Ritual] very carefully, even with all his divergences, he knew that a Lizardman, even a variant like him, was not capable of performing this kind of feats. Carnage has made quite the extensive tests in his own body; testing about where was the limit. For an average [Lizardman warrior], the most common evolution, this [Ritual] would be way over its head, even for a [Lizardman Magic caster] like Thundercaller, would be almost impossible without several other spellcasters helping with the input of magic and the necessities of the [Ritual].

Carnage was going to make it all by himself, enacting a [Ritual] called [Requiem]. It was not a famous [Ritual], far from it, after all, it was tremendously specialized.

In a nutshell, it should free all trapped souls inside the borders of the ritual´s markings, releasing them form any magical or earthy bounds and taking them to whatever afterlife they should go. As Carnage´s Clan is not precisely dwelling into [Death Magic] or [Necromancy], they only had this [Ritual] in the archives, just in case they have to deal with armies of undead or to cleanse a possible haunted place.

In more diverse lands, like the border towns and ports; it was not uncommon that several ghosts and specters were born from the misery and horrid conditions of most of the inhabitants, and the local [Exorcists] made good use of this [Ritual] and lesser versions of the same. Carnage was going to make the entire eight yards and perform the most powerful version of [Requiem], after all, he was trying to set free the soul of a Dragon.

Carnage set some undead in the chains of the original ritual, this Draugr were strong enough to pull the anchor of the bones and break the bounds that anchored the soul to its bone remains, as Carnage keep pulling the magic out of the bones and making it complete and free. Starting to chant, Carnage took his place in the middle of the ritual, the previous spot of the coffin, and keep fueling the runes surrounding them, the golden runes started to glow, opposing to the dark and creepy shadows that danced on the chains on the bones.

It was almost a battle of attrition, the power of Carnage against the [Death magic] stored on the bounding chains; thanks to [Oldest Soul], it was a sucker bet trying to guess who was going to be on top at the end, but it was a matter of focus, to keep a steady flow of magic, not overloading, not too little, always the same and constantly chanting for the liberation of the trapped soul.

From time to time, one of the chains cracked for the conflict, losing the magic inside, and that was the moment on where a draugr will use all his undead strength to pull the anchor out of the bone. Bit by bit, the essence trapped inside the bones became free, flowing in a white and silver mist all over the golden boundary set by the runes on the floors and walls.

That was another of the dangers of the [Ritual] and why Carnage has taken all nine hours of careful preparation to make it done correctly. Releasing the soul was not enough; the soul of the Dragon was chopped in pieces, trapped and conserved in each piece of bone, each chain keep a piece and once it was released, if it was not put together again, the soul of the Dragon will be torn to shreds. That was a destiny that no one dared not to fear, it was not death, it was worst, it was non-existence; no resurrection, reincarnation, reborn, nothing; just the void.

Even gods feared that.

Carnage could sense the emotions running rampant in the sliver of the soul; a mix of confusion, anger, fear, and guilt; nothing solid yet, only emotions and impressions. As the soul gain more and more consistency; good thing Carnage could oversee the process; thanks to the [Death Magic] spell, [Death senses]; and could measure when the soul has already become coherent again.

This kind of [Necromancy] was a dangerous business, souls are the source of three of the [Magic Systems], that means that, in essence, they are energy. Powerful souls, equal powerful energy, and Dragons are practically the pinnacle of the Kin, there were few strongest souls than that. Leaving that energy unattended was foolish and dangerous.

Piece by piece, the soul continue growing; Carnage has to admit that he was bloody impressed, this soul was powerful as hell, only his [Oldest Soul] prevents him to be overwhelmed by the soul that he was trying to recompose and free from the slavery that has been imposed over it. The runes of the boundary glow brighter as they need an extra to infuse of power to keep the purification of the chains and the soul contained; the Draugr has already banished as they were no more needed. There were no more anchors in the bones, now it was all a matter of patiently cleaning the [Death Magic] and let the soul recompose. It was tiring, but for Carnage and his [Tireless body] and iron will, it was not that big deal.

With a final crack, all the shadows over the bones disappeared and all the essence inside of them was released. The pure energy of a Dragon soul, pushed the limits of the boundary, forcing Carnage to grunt and flood the runes with more and more power. The clash continued for a little, as the soul inside continued adjusting and mashing together again, slowly lowering the pressure over the runes and solidifying itself in a spectral silhouette of what could like like a female human with remarkably dragon traits in her body.

Not really a surprise, it only meant that she has had a lot of contact with humans or humanoid creatures during her life. Dragons are shape-shifters, they could change their mass and appearance to mix with any races that they want, there were cases where Dragons have become elves, Arachnes and more exotic species. It all depends on the individual Dragon.

Carnage did not lower the boundary, not until he could be sure that the soul was complete and nothing was left on the bones or she was still lacking something; however, Carnage did not expect the specter to float in front of him, emotions irradiating from her in a flood, and started to ask a lot of question, in a voice that can have different tones and emotions lacing each word. Anger, guilt, fear, revulsion, worry, the poor ghost was lost as hell, and she was trying to make head or tails about what has happened here.

"Lady, please be calm". Called Carnage to the specter, lowering his own magical presence; not letting her go, but yes giving her some breathing space inside the boundary. "You have been liberated from the magical chains that bounded you to your own bones".

"Mist!". She called, Carnage was not sure if he was trying to say something or calling for someone. "Mist, I beg you to stop, this is not right, Tiamat did not approve of this!".

"I am not Mist, Lady". Corrected Carnage the specter; it seems that the Grimmwhisper spellcaster was called Mist, well, he was dead now, thanks for the powers although, they are pretty nice. "I am Carnage Runescales of the Stormrage Clan".

"Stormrage?". Blinked the specter in confusion. "But, Mist was Grimmwhisper, he was brilliant, I taught him, he was such a good student, but the war and...". She lost the trail of the conversation and Carnage waited patiently for the specter to get all her thoughts together.

She was one of the dozens or so Dragons that had perished during this last thirty years of war with the Southern Empire, judging from the corpse of Mist, she must have died in the last decade of the war; surely at the beginnings, when the Southern Empire, tried to make a push through the Sea and they were violently rejected by the naval forces of the Grimmwhisper and Blizzardhowl Clans, the main seafarers of the Five Clans.

It was always a pity; the loss of a Dragon was something drastic for the Dragon Empire, usually, they tend to live long lives, and once they died, all the wisdom they had was lost with them. This specimen in concrete seemed to be a Grimmwhisper that reached the Dragon evolution, and took the Chosen of the Black Head as protegee, teaching him [Death Magic] and [Necromancy]. Well, in honor of the dead, it must be said that Mist was a very dangerous opponent.

"I died". She said with a final tone, as the last pieces of her memory started to get together and show her the final moments of her life. "A squad of Griffon Riders guided by a Hero of the Southern Empire, they ambushed my army and kill me during the battle".

"I am sorry, Lady". Said Carnage. "The war is still ongoing, we can keep them in their lands, but nothing else".

"Not your fault, Kin, I thank you for freeing me from my prison". Shook her head the specter, eyeing her surroundings with curiosity and finally repairing in the curious appearance of Carnage, who was unusually colored, no matter the clan. But what called her attention was the complex and powerful ritual that has freed her.

"Kin, are you the one that has performed [Requiem]? alone and without help?". Said the astonished voice of the Dragon ghost.

Whom, by the way, was a master of [Death magic] and knew of the [Ritual] and how extenuating it truly was, even as Dragon she has done it only a couple of times, and with help. For a Lizardman to be able to do it, alone, was nothing out of the sort of miraculous.

"I am a very good spellcaster and I am practically tireless". It was the truth, Carnage has not lied, but at the same time, he has kept [Oldest soul] and his tricks gained from [Circle of Usurpation] under his sleeve. Carnage preferred to keep those in secret, just in case.

"Kin, it is impossible". The specter turned her translucent face to him, Carnage cannot make any facial features, beyond a heart-shaped face and dragon traits here and there. "Who and what are you?".

There was an undertone of threat in that sentence, the Dragon was still lingering from the experience of almost being a [Revenant] and perhaps unconsciously, she was fearing about a similar destiny but in other hands.

"I am Carnage Runescales of the Stormrage Clan, [Lizardman Overlord] and proud member of the Talon of the Chosen of the Blue Head". Thundered Carnage.

Carnage was not stepping back, even if it was going to be a battle for the ages; if the ghost decided to get violent; Carnage needed to keep the control of the [Ritual], backing now, would mean a premature release of the specter; still on earth, instead of sending her to whatever afterlife awaited the Dragons.

The specter moved around him, as soon as Carnage has reinforced the boundary, she has felt the massive power that his body holds, far more than any Lizardman should have, it was akin to hers, but different, purer, like a golden dawn. For a second, she thought that she was back in the presence of Tiamat, and that was impossible, what was even more shocking was the fact that she could sense the blessing of Tiamat on him, the same blessing that Mist had. This Carnage was the Chosen of the Black Head of Tiamat, and that was mind-blowing to the specter.

"Impossible, you are the Chosen of the Black Head?, but Mist was the Chosen too". Said the specter, floating in distress around Carnage, feeling the power that her former apprentice had.

 _"Pandora protects me, Dragons can feel their respective blessings? that was going to be awkward later on"._ Mussed Carnage who scratched the back of his head, under the red hair and smiled to the specter. "Aye, about that, I am afraid that Mist, was no longer blessed, his actions after your demise and the [Ritual] that he tried to enact in the lands of the Dragon Empire, along with his crimes against Kin, made him unworthy of the blessing".

"Liar!". Accused the specter, growing restless by the moment, and Carnage cursed in his mind, he really should have investigated deeper into the Chosen business, but there was little information about it, as it was a really unusual occurrence. "The Blessing cannot be retired, unless…you!, you killed Mist". Accused the specter and Carnage widened an eye.

Unless what?, what did Carnage not know about the Chosen ones?, does that means that Carnage could dump this Chosen one mess onto another poor sod?. Before he could even begin to question the specter, or at last try to calm down the distressed ghost, Carnage felt a thug in his soul and his body started to glow in a golden glow that echoed with the presence of Pandora.

 _[We want Grandbabies has knotted the Blessings of the Heads to your soul]_

 _[Pandora´s Message: Don't even think about it, Mister; Tiamat is a good friend and I would like her to end with a good man, thank you very much.]_

" _Surtur´s balls, Mom!"._ Mentally cried out Carnage when the presence of Pandora abandoned him with that little gift, now he was even in a deeper mess.

Now was impossible to run from the battle from being the Consort of Tiamat, but there was something that has called his attention. Pandora has said that Tiamat was a good friend of hers, that means that Tiamat knows of Pandora, and was in good terms. That could mean that he could say that he was the [Chosen of Pandora] as other are the Chosen ones of other deities and that would explain his massive power and talent for the magical arts.

Well, that was Carnage´s hope at last.

"What was that?!". The specter has taken refuge behind her own bones, emotions swirling in her like a maelstrom.

That was Divine power, it was unmistakable, she had sensed the same thing thousands of times when she was in the presence of Tiamat, back in the Queen´s Den. But that was nothing like she had ever felt, it was, well, golden, different from Tiamat and yet they shared a warm and love for all their Kin.

"That was Pandora, pulling a prank on me". Sighed Carnage, knowing that Pandora would do whatever she wanted, as much as he loved his adoptive mom, sometimes she really grated his nerves with her shenanigans.

"Pandora?, the Goddess Pandora?". There was a hint of surprise and amazement in the voice of the female specter.

"The same and only". Smiled warmly Carnage, he could not be mad with her, she was always like that, and she was the main reason why he was alive and prospering. "She does that from time to time, not sure why".

Not entirely a lie, [We want Grandbabies!] boon, gift, a trait of whatever was pretty self-explanatory, but it activates at random moments and even during the evolution to trigger the [Overlord] variant. In all, it was a sign that Pandora has not forgotten about him, neither Epimeteo and that was kind of a surprise, [The Fool], as he was called, was the one that gifted positive traits to all races over the earth, even if his foresight was horrid.

"Never, has one of the Kin, being blessed by Pandora". The specter appeared from the bone, Dragon she may be, but Goddess like Pandora had a nasty streak that made any sensible being, run for the hills each time she was pissed off. "She gifted us with knowledge and hope; along with her husband, who gifted us with our determination and iron will that matched our strong scaled bodies".

"That pair has always been a couple of bleeding hearts". Laughed Carnage seeing that the specter was losing her wariness and was seeing that he was here to help. "How can you not love them?".

"But there has never been a Chosen of Pandora, not even among the Priests that keeps the Temple and Library in the Queen´s Den". She was surprised for seeing something that was never happened before, happening twice, in the form of Carnage.

"A Temple in the Queen´s Den?, well, I didn't know that". Shrugged Carnage who was surprised that he has not seen any reference to it in the books of the Stormrage Clan.

Of course, if Carnage had paid more attention to the [Divine Magic System] instead of [Arcane and Rituals], then perhaps he would have seen references to it. Knowing Pandora, she surely had Domain over Knowledge, Fate, Hope, and Chaos, but in this new world, her and Epimeteo´s Saga may be different. Carnage should look out later for a book about the matter, and see if he could pray to Pandora, calling her name as protection would have a lot more sense now, and would ease some of the suspicions if he started to deploy powers that he should not have, like performing [Requiem] alone.

"Pandora has sent you here?". Asked the Dragon with a bit of wariness. Carnage understood that; when a deity was involved, nothing was so simple.

"Nay, my Talon and I were on our Sagas, they told us that something was running afoul here". Explained Carnage, why his Talon has come to the place. "Kin disappearances, dark and ominous sensations, rumors of undead sights; the place was too close to Grimmwhisper and the Cold sea to let it be, so our Guide decided to test us with a Saga, to see if we were ready for the War".

"Congratulations, then". She couldn't smile as she lacked enough definition in her face to have such facial expressions, but Carnage knew that she was happy. "But, where is the rest of your Talon?".

"Traveled back to the Stormrage Den to inform, I get behind to reclaim any leftovers from the battle and to perform [Requiem] and free you and whoever is in that coffin". Pointed out Carnage, with a claw, to the coffin, resting in one of the furthest rooms that he has made in order to clean all the space available for the [Ritual].

"They know how dangerous and stressing [Requiem] is?". Asked the Dragon, who was slowly recovering her old personality, a positive sign that [Requiem] was working.

"The leader of my Talon is a [Lizardman King], and I suspect that he is the Chosen of the Blue head", shrugged Karnage without giving a dung about it, "we are kind of unique and I am the spellcaster of the Talon, not to mention that I have an [Unseen Servant] that could carry anything that we could find here".

"An [Unseen Servant]?". Carnage swore that he could have almost see the brown of the Dragon raising, and she was starting to speak like a female version of Thundercaller; was she a Guide before her death?, it would have sense, considering she was saying that she has taught the Chosen of the Black head. "I am most impress, Kin, that is a very hard and extenuating [Ritual]".

"Carravers was worth it, even if the bastard has more sass that it should be healthy". Laughed Carnage, who has soon learned to appreciate the usefulness of having a being like Carravers around, pity the [Ritual] was only available for people with powerful souls, otherwise it would be an everyday occurrence.

"You are one of the most notable Lizardmen that I have ever encountered, Kin". Laughed the Dragon and Carnage knew that she was ready to travel to the other side. Laugh, real, honest laugh was a positive trait, if a specter can laugh, then all the coldness of a pure undead monster was out of her system.

"I am often told". Smirked Carnage. "Are you ready to be free at last?".

"Will it hurt?". Was the fearful question of the Dragon, she died one and become trapped in her own bones, she has never died properly, so to speak, as preposterous as it could sound.

"No, it will not hurt, I can promise you that". Shook his head Carnage, with his [Death Magic] and recently Usurped [Necromancy Affinity], he knew that [Requiem] would never hurt the souls that it frees. "Goodbye lass, it has been a pleasure, I only hoped we could have met under better circumstances". Carnage raised his claws and started to channel the magic of the runes into the air, dissipating the boundary.

"Orchid". She said before moving to Carnage and put the space where her mouth should be, over the top of the head of Carnage, "kissing" his red hair and the top of his head. "My name was Grimm Orchid".

"Goodbye, Lady Orchid, May Tiamat protect you on your travel to the Great Beyond". Smiled Carnage as the specter vanished, as soon as the runes lost all the power they had.

 _[Ghostkin trait Earned]._ That was new, it was the first time that he has earned a trait without a battle, usually, he defeated an enemy and he got a Usurped power from the [Circle of Usurpation].

 _[We want Grandbabies!, has added Allure to the effect of Ghostkin]._ Pandora dammit, Carnage really should have seen that one coming.

Actually, was it even possible? apparitions are not precisely solid and what´snot, so romping with a female apparition of any kind may be a bit more difficult than usual. And Carnage was not going to investigate forms of having sex with an apparition, that would be odd, even for his standards.

Well, that was a thing, now, onto the matter of the coffin…

A month later, and Carnage was still cursing his bad luck, he really should have not done it, he really should have kept the coffin closed, deliver it back to the Asgard Kingdom with an effusive apology and call it a day.

But his curiosity took the better of him and made him open the blasted thing. Alas, it ended as a relatively good thing, Carnage did prevent a diplomatic shitstorm and cemented the bonds between the Dragon Empire and Asgard; the bad thing was that Carnage earned the attention of a powerful Clan of Asgard and what's worse, the All-father of Asgard, Vidar, was quite interested in how a Lizardman was so competent in the Sacred Runes of his people.

Carnage blamed Pandora, and somehow it did seems to satisfy the curiosity of all involved, except one. The woman that rested, chained and confined, inside the coffin that Carnage opened.

Dreyri Hellasdottir, Princess of the Hella Clan and the most powerful [Vampire Magic Caster] that Asgard has seen in decades. As soon as she was free, she jumped out of the coffin and attacked Carnage, snarling like a beast, hunger glowing in her red eyes, completely naked and with little gashes and wounds, not healed, in her body. Not precisely her proudest moment, either Carnage´s as he reacted by instinct and electrocuted her with his [Electrokinesis], then webbed her in a cocoon of his [Webbing] and kicked her back into her coffin, slamming the thing against the wall, with force enough to leave a dent on the stone of the walls.

After that, a lot of awkward silence filled the cave, followed by a heartfelt "Surtur´s balls", from Carnage, followed by a neuter, "Such a fine first impression, my Lord" of Carravers.

At last, Carnage was sure that he has not killed the Princess, as the [Circle of Usurpation] has not activated. Grumbling a lot more, Carnage ordered Carravers to bring in some Blood vine buds and started to create some clothes from his own webbing to the knocked cold Vampire. A good black and red dress, from neck to toe, with a red Yggdrasil, embroidered in the center of the dress and long pants, cape, and sockets to complement.

Blood Vine buds were a [Ritual] ingredient that Carnage has picked up when he killed his first Blood Vine, it stored all the blood that the Vine sucked and kept it under the floor, in a safety bud from where roots for other Vines grew. Carnage has used them as an improvised healing potion, and sometimes snack; thanks to his [Blood Drinker] trait, and he was sure that the Vampire Princess could do the same.

Leaving the buds and the clothes in front of the coffin, Carnage cut a bit of the cocoon and let the strength of the Princess took care of the rest, she ripped her way open, fall upon the buds like and starved wolf and after grabbing the clothes, she vanished in a mist; leaving a confused Carnage that cursed and slammed his palm against his head.

Vampires, they can turn on mist, bats and all that shit that Carnage has not really paid attention, as he was convinced that there was none in the Dragon Kingdom and the Southern Empire considered them bloody abominations, with a "Kill on sight" order. Well, except on those that had citizens status through payments, bribes, blackmail or something along those lines.

Shrugging, Carnage cleaned up the cave, looting the coffin and the Dragon bones; Dvergar Steel and Dragon bones were a wonderful item for magical crafting; and everything else of value and exited the cave; calling _Bloodjaw_ so he could travel back to the Stormrage´s Clan Den and reunite with the rest of his Talon.

The entire Clan was exultant for the success of the Saga, although Carnage has a private reunion with the Guides and explained to them what happened in the cave, the name of the Dragon that was almost transformed into a [Revenant] and how he has become the Chosen of the Black head. The Guides almost had a collective stroke at the news, except Thundercaller and Aurora, that laughed hilariously, shouting how he has done it again and achieved the impossible.

Of course, Carnage did keep the rest of the Chosen titles under his belt, so far he had all, but the Blue and White. Blue was of Storm and Carnage was Not going to kill Storm for such a thing, Storm was a good friend, a good leader and part of his Talon; killing him will be dishonorable and stupid. Unfortunately, revealing such information, something that Carnage has done knowing full well, that Tiamat already knows from the spirit of Orchid and the Grimmwhisper must already know about the death of their Chosen one; had a consequence that Carnage didn't like at all.

Carnage can no longer be part of the Talon of Storm.

There can not be two Chosen in the same Talon, they must compete against each other unless someone defeated the other and won the Blessing from his corpse. Carnage put his foot down and told that he would slit his own bloody throat before killing Kin, much less in the middle of the war, and even less for a competition that was still in diapers and no other Chosen ones have ever appeared. Total lie, as he has killed three of them already, but no one knew of that little piece of info, except Tiamat, and she has not said a word in the matter. Perhaps the Goddess of the Dragon Empire was carefully threading her own spins about all this Saga, but nonetheless, Carnage did not kill Kin without a bloody good reason. Killing Storm for a blessing, even if it was possible, was something that he was Not going to do.

Being separated from his Talon was not something that Carnage expected, and the rest of the Clan understood his reluctance; especially after how they have bested such a dangerous Saga and won a lot of fame and renown to the Clan by working together. But being a Chosen one was something that none of them expected; well, Carnage has been the Red and Green Chosen one since day one, but that was a secret that no one knew, until now that he was publicly the Black Chosen one and had the [Necromancy affinity] to prove it.

[Necromancy] was not popular with the Stormrage Clan, they were more akin to [Sky Magic] and even [Earth and Sun Magic], the polar opposite of [Necromancy], however, the frightening capability of Carnage to create and command armies of undead in rapid succession was to be feared and respected. Still, Carnage never abused of that power on the Den, he thought it was something for the battlefield, not for the home.

Storm, Rain, and Leaf were unhappy by the news; even if he was a smartass, Carnage was their smartass, and they have only survived because he was there, tanking the brunch of the magical assault and finally killing that Mist cretin that has started all this mess in the first place. Carnage really appreciated the sentiment, and assured them, that even if he was not an official part of his Talon, he will always be there for them, even during the war, as he would make sure that he was deployed with his not-Talon, whenever they are sent.

Carnage had to give them a quick run-down of how to take a bit of an advantage of the status of Storm as [Lizardman King], but they quickly get it. It has been said that [King´s Wisdom] trait of Storm tells him that taking advantage of his status was a bit unorthodox, but Carnage argued differently. Storm was a King, Carnage was an Overlord; Storm was the righteous leader, and Carnage the bastard that made sure that the King keeps being a righteous leader. After all, that was the reason why Storm wanted him in his Talon; Carnage was a world-class bastard and that kind of skills are needed more often than not.

Now that Carnage has a lot more space in the Den; not being part of the Talon and still going to be deployed to the front lines; Carnage tossed himself into a feverish activity about all the projects and ideas that have been roaming in the back of his brain for quite a while. Still, he discovered that he has mail. Quite the shocking event, as mail was not usually sent to the Den, except for the Guides and the war efforts, private mail was kind of a rare occurrence on the Den. Especially when the one writing the letter was a Princess of an Asgardian Clan and was directed to Carnage.

Said Lizardman blinked, cursed, sworn and grab the letter from the Kobold with a thank you and proceed to read the letter. Before the Kobold could move and continue with his daily errands, Carnage asked him; politely; to wait a bit as he was going to write a quick response. Seeing the tiredness of the Kobold, Carnage offered her a sandwich of Grub and a [Buff] spell that would easy her labor for the day; of course that only cemented his fame as the Benevolent One, Carnage didn't need much to write a reply and deliver the letter back to the Kobold, who keep with his errands, happily munching her sandwich and feeling way better than before.

Meanwhile, Carnage sighed and slammed his head against the stone wall a couple of times, cursing and calling for Pandora´s protection against her?. Well, for the rest of the Lizardmen, Carnage has already more than earned his eccentric fame, as much as they respect the odd Lizardman, he was the odd one out, one hundred percent of the times. When Thundercaller asked about the letter, Carnage told him what happened in the cave and the content of the letter, and the older spell caster laughed for several hours.

Don't ask how, but Dreyri Hellasdottir; as she presented herself in the letter; knew of the [Requiem] ritual and the conversation that Carnage had with Orchid, even if it was on a dream-like state; her senses were more or less linked with the magic of the cave and the coffin, so she sensed the "Asgardian feeling" of the magic of Carnage and was eager to continue mailing someone who was even better [Necromancy] user than her.

Essentially, Carnage has bagged himself a fan; an Asgardian Princess fan. Carnage was eager to go to the front lines and forgot about all this. He was not ready to make himself known to the word, beyond the Den of the Clan or the Dragon Empire, he was too weak to be able to take on the world as he used to do when he was Magnus the Campione.

The letters continued, and even if Carnage was a bit wary, he has to admit that Dreyri was quite knowledgeable in the magical arts, and her letters opened up a fascinating written debate about [Rituals] and [Magic Systems], that was quite the joy to read and answer back.

As the time passed, Carnage prepared for the war.

They are going to be sent to the Eastern lines, where forces of the Dragon Army where experimenting the most casualties, in part for the incredible strategy acumen of one of the generals of the Southern Empire and thanks to almost double the presence of Myrmidons than the other battlefronts. Carnage used all the time he has left before they were deployed, to not only geared himself up adequately for the occasion but to polish his magical power as much as he could and investigating something that has been on his mind for a while.

Cooking.

It was a bit peeving that all the cuisine of the Den was basically boiling and roast meat with a tiny variation of herbs and vegetables, Carnage entered into the massive kitchen and started to have a talk and some explanations and demonstrations to the working staff there. It was an eclectic mixture of Kobolds and Lizardmen with a Saurus that has taken a liking to the roasting skewers and had an affinity for [Fire Magic], keeping himself safe from the fiery flames of the roasting oven.

Several hours later, Carnage exited the kitchen with a spiced skewer of Bronto meat. The echoes of a frenzied activity in the kitchen can be heard from the other side of the Den, curious about what was all this about, one of the Guides came to check out and got enthralled by the smells and tastes of the new foods that the cooks were making.

Carnage couldn't know that, but he has triggered a new evolution branch among his Kin. The next days and weeks, three Kin evolved into [Lizardman Cook], [Lizardman Battle Chef] and [Saurus Roaster]. Tiamat was dumbfounded and Pandora was still laughing.

The real work came when Carnage was informed that they were going to be deployed to the battlefield after they have passed the mating season; that was expected in a month. After the success that most of the Talons had in their Sagas, as almost every Talon has made it, they decided to, at last, keep a possible generational replacement for the ones that are going to die in the war.

A bit cold, but pragmatic and realistic. Kin is going to die, is dying right now, suffering losses in each battle and keeping the Southern Empire out of their frontiers. If Dragons have died in battle, the same can happen to them, having descendants that could inherit the talent and capabilities of their parents was a sensitive and logical measure.

And Carnage had extra time to work on his own projects.

First of all, with all the Dvergar Steel and the Dragon bones, Carnage occupied one of the forges for an entire week, working into the creation of a set of weapons for him and his Talon and to start the first step of his personal Grimoire; his Magical Magnus Opus that would help him a lot in keeping track of all the magic that he was going to see and learn during his life in this world.

Carnage was loving this world by the moment, by the way.

Creating an army of Draugr supporters and increasing their resistance to fire; one of the few weaknesses of the Undead creatures; Carnage started to work on the forge with the passion that he had when he was a Campione and forged his own weapon to battle [Heretic Gods]. Even the Guides were astonished of the kind of work that Carnage was creating. Thanks to the [Ritual system], Carnage knew how to enchant weapons and items and with the Dvergar Steel and Dragon Bones as the core of the weapons and items, he could create things that would be called legendary items.

First on the list, the gifts for his Talon. [Sky´s Wrath], a silver and steel Guan-dao for Storm, with a wide blade that looks like it was erupting from a dragon head and that will enhance and empower his natural [Sky magic] and [Electrokinesis].

[Silver Thorn], a cavalry saber for Rain, enhanced so it could bend, whip and slash from all angles, without losing an inch of its sharpness; perfect to mounted attacks and to fight with it and a shield.

[Earths Stinger] a composite bow for Leaf, taking advantage of the natural strength of Leaf, any arrow shot from the bow, would follow, without losing an inch of force, any creature tagged by Leaf´s [Earth Magic].

Carnage forged an entirely different monster for himself. Recognizing that he would never stop hunting down powerful enemies, that Campiones; even reincarnated; always look out for strong opponents, he forget a weapon that was a reminder of the Northerner that he was and the evolving Kin that he was now.

A five foot and half, one bladed Battleaxe, made of Dragon bone, Dvergar Steel, gold and his own blood. The handle was made of Dvergar Steel and gold, tempered with his blood and carved in runes; it had only a wide and sharp blade, all the flat of the blade glow with golden runes, the gold has been mixed with his blood before embroidering them onto the blade; it has a short spear tip in the top and a sharp, talon-like, blade on the opposite side of the blade. The weapon echoed with his own soul, as it has been marked forever as his, and only his, a weapon for a monster that would never stop and would joyfully fight and vanquish anything that comes his way.

With a thundering echo, the hammer of Carnage ended the last rune etching in the blade, and not really caring about the blood that ran free from his wrists and hands; as he was using his own blood as catalyst for the enchantment; taking advantage of the unique properties of the Dvergar Steel; Carnage rose the glowing weapon over his head.

Even the Draugrs that worked on the forge had to give a step back as they feel the power that the weapon was irradiating.

"As the one that created you, I name you, [Hunger], [Grádr] in the ancient tongue of my homeland".

Even with [Tireless body] and [Body Magic] keeping him going, Carnage was getting mentally exhausted for the work, even if he was an obsessive bastard, he was reaching his limit, but before he felt he was ready, there was still one thing to do. His memory could fail, but he was going to create a Grimoire, a book that will record all his knowledge, no matter how dark or luminous it could be.

Cover of Dvergar Steel, gold and enhanced silver; showing a steel Northern warrior with a Dane axe in his hands, standing in vigilance, circled by two Dragons, one gold and one silver; the insides were reinforced with Dragon bone dust, his own natural webbing and alchemist ingredients that would preserve any writing inside of it. Using the last pieces of Dvergar Steel, Carnage mixed it with his own blood and created a chain that would always bind the Grimoire to him; forever chaining the Grimoire to his person. Bleeding over the chains as Carnage poured all the magic he could on the metallic links, that agitated like living snakes, they jump in action and coiled around the Grimoire in a burst of magic and a screeching sound.

"As the one that created you, I name you the [Grimoire of the Thousand Truths]".

Mentally exhausted, Carnage almost fall on the forge; not that it would have mattered, thank to his [Fireproof] trait, but it would be quite hard to explain; Pandora excuse non-withstanding; but his Draugr, notably more independent and clever than the usual variant, were able to catch him and carry him to his room, where he slept through three entire days, being attended by Carravers and his worried Talon comrades.

Thundercaller almost tossed him from the highest peak for being a reckless idiot, but that was the usual Thundercaller being Thundercaller.

Second thing on the list; as soon as Carnage wake up, devour an entire Bronto with side dishes, amused to the extreme for the sudden discovery of the new variants and improvement of the food around, be chewed up by Thundercaller and his entire Talon; it was time to not only improve his magical knowledge and check out that little piece of info about Pandora and Tiamat being good friends.

In Magnus original Midgard, Tiamat was not a nice deity; it was a monster of the utmost caliber, but here, she was practically the patron goddess of the entire Kin and so far she did seems to be very different from the evil goddess that she was back in Carnage´s home planet.

But before, Carnage realized that he has committed a grave mistake and run to fix it as soon as he could.

Carnage has abandoned _Bloodjaws_ for almost a week! how could he be so heartless? the poor, adorable, things must be heartbroken. In truth, she and her brother did chew up; literally; Carnage a bit, but as soon as he brought them out for a hunting trip, they mellow out quite rapidly and enjoyed the occasion.

It has been quite a while since he had a bit of time out, as Carnage ran over the lands of the Stormrage Clan with his Butcherclaws; but the excitement of the war was filling him; he was about to step into the battlefield and all his being echoed with the desire to battle once more. Carnage was Campione, and before that, a powerful Nordmanni Berserker that made the of the battlefield, his home.

Hunting with the _Bloodjaw_ siblings was the cathartic exercise that Carnage needed to get rid of the lingering aftermath of the forging of [Hunger] and the [Grimoire of the Thousand Truths], together they roamed the lands, running after a juicy prey and eating at their hearth content after they had a glorious hunt. Bagging another power, was a nice touch to the delicious evening.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Drallon: Multidexterity skill Usurped]._

This gift came from the biggest and ugliest Kobold Carn has ever saw, it was a seven feet tall beast that looked like a Kobold, muscles increased to the eleven, short brown fur and eight limbs, that he could use to hit from any direction like a storm of punches, scratches, kicks, and slashes. Carnage fried his sorry ass with his [Electrokinesis] and when the poor sod tried to counter-attack, [Sharpen scales] and [Corrosive stench] made him realize that he has fucked it up.

It was tremendously useful thought, now Carnage would never have a weak hand, so to speak, and it worked even for the tail, or any other appendage. Carnage was eager to see if he could Usurp Shape-shifting abilities at some point, the possibilities with this Skill were endless.

Anyhow, he returned back to the Den and after a good dinner with his friends; even if they were not Talon anymore, they were good friends that Carnage held in great value; and then started to investigate about what exactly can he do with the [Magic systems].

After the battle with Mist, Carnage realized that his magic power has started to grow slowly, he knew of the Tier level of the systems, how a Lizardman, no matter the variation, would never be able to cast spells at the same level of a Dragon or a Demigod, but with enough effort and dedication; without evolving; he can breach into the low levels of power of a Demigod.

For example, as a Lizardman with an affinity for [Necromancy] he could perform Tier 3 spells tops, Tier 4 would be a record, unless he managed to evolve into a Dragonkin or another higher evolution of the Lizardman branch, then his magical power could; remarking Could; evolve further and reach Tier 7 of any branch, perhaps even Tier 8, but the Tier 9 and 10 are reserved for exceptional beings like full-fledged Dragons and beyond that, it was the realm of the deities. Carnage suspected that more than magic systems, once he reached "Godhood", he would gain something akin to [Authorities].

But that was waaay too far from now on. With all the magic he could learn, it would be a massive effort on his part, having to choose what branches would he wanted to learn, instead of becoming a magical Jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

[Ritual system] was his choice along [Earth, Abyss and Body Magic] as learning interest and thanks to his [Necromancy] affinity and the [Black Blessing of Tiamat], that magic would come to him naturally. Of course, Carnage didn't forget about the traits and skills he gained from the [Circle of Usurpation] but most of them were instinctual and didn't need training of any kind, and the few that had, were relatively easy to master or he considered them, not adequate to his preferences.

[Spit poison], for example, was a useful skill, coupled with the [Green Blessing of Tiamat], Carnage could spit a lot of dangerous and virulent poisons, but he has done little to become a proficient poisoner, as he considered poison something that did not click well with his personality.

Carnage or not, he was Magnus at his very soul; Magnus was a Campione, and no matter what, all Campiones are bloody morons that challenge gods and somehow managed to come on top, so any reasoning that could be applied to the decisions of Carnage must be filtered through the prism that he was a Campione. Irrational was their specialty, not even deities could stand against their irrationality. It was common sense, after all, a god was supreme, then Campiones killed gods, so they were Supreme too...no?.

After practically raid the library of the Clan for information about his choices, Carnage made good use of his Grimoire and copied all the spells he could thank a wonderful ritual called [ Unblemished Copyist] that created a perfect replica of a non-magical text or drawing, perfect to the minimum detail.

It has been used as a way to create false documents and artworks copies; thanks to the magical requirements, it was not a very widespread [Ritual], but Thundercaller explained to Carnage that half of the criminal organizations of this world has contracted spellcasters that could perform this [Ritual] flawlessly to help with their scams. Those and Schools, that made copies of books, so everyone could learn how to read and write easily.

On a side note, Carnage; or better said Magnus; came from a civilization that had little to none writing works, apart from the Futhark, the Rune writing, that was only used in counted occasions. The knowledge that practically the ninety percent of this world population; at last in civilized counties, kingdoms, etc; could write and read, was quite the surprise. Carnage was convinced that any ruler would keep such a thing under wraps, so only an elite could access to the knowledge and the power that was the [Magic systems] outside of [Kinesis] and affinities that individuals may have. But it was the other way around, and it was a good thing.

Pulling another set of sleepless nights, Carnage abused his [Tireless body] and keep replicating all the books into his own Grimoire. It was akin to a personal dream or project but in the long run, Carnage wanted to pay homage to his Fostbraeth Odin, by becoming something akin to Odin´s Heiti; sacred names; Fimbulthulr or Supreme Wizard in common language.

The [Grimoire of the Thousand Truths] would be his homage to that name, as it would contain all the magic knowledge that Carnage could put his hands on. It was a long work and possible Carnage would still have deficiencies in the stored knowledge, but it was a nice goal to put some effort into, and the [Rituals] that he has created and would alter in the future, still needed to be recorded. Carnage still would have to remember to amass paper in spades, as the Grimoire could contain an infinite number of written pages but he has to "feed" the Grimoire with blank pages to fill that knowledge.

Third thing on the list, and only a week before the mating season hit the Den; not that Carnage has any hopes of being selected, after all, he was an odd one, in not only manner buts physical appearance and the Chosen one of the Black Head, the patron head of another Clan; he had to look out for any information about Pandora. Now that he has "discovered" the gift of Pandora about his superior talent in the [Magic systems], he had the excuse to dig a little into the cult of Pandora and how was see saw in the world.

Carnage knew that Pandora has told him that she and Tiamat were friends, but beyond that and the revelation of the Temple to Pandora in the Library of the Queen´s Den, he was drawing a blank. It only took a day to get some interesting info, from the Priests and Priestesses of Tiamat that worked on the Infirmary. Brokenfang, the older of the two, was more than happy to educate Carnage in the faith of Tiamat; confirming his suspicions that any semblance with the Tiamat of Carnage´s original world was just in some titles at that was it; speaking about the very few fellow gods that helped Tiamat when she was cast away from God´s Realm and onto the Earth.

Among those deities, were the Aesir of Asgard, Pandora, her husband Epimeteo and a few more, that helped her set up the basis of the Dragon Empire. So she did have a good relation with Tiamat and was well seen in the Dragon Empire; as a bloody pest in the Southern Empire, a well mean trickster in Asgard, and beyond the Cold Sea was still up to debate.

As Carnage was chatting with Brokenfang and wondering if he should look out for some sort of adequate way of worship Pandora and Epimeteo and becoming a public Priest of his mother, another point of the list appeared in quite a surprising way and frankly, it shook Carnage quite a bit, as he did not expect it, at all.

A female Lizardman, one of the nine that survived the Cave of Trials; a bluish colored scaled, slim but strong, a specimen of golden eyes and white, silk-like, hair; a [Lizardman Tamer] if Carnage remembered right: approached him and asked for having eggs together in the incoming mating season.

Carnage blinked a pair of times, not really sure if he has been eared it right; Carnage has been chosen as a possible father for the next mating season?. Carnage was all convinced that he was not precisely the most eligible bachelor of the Den, in all honesty, between his odd coloration, his eccentricities, the influence of Pandora and the discovery that he was the Chosen of the Black head, by right of conquest, it would be a bloody miracle if a female would even look in his direction.

Rain, doesn't count, she was a Talon companion and Carnage was convinced that she was going to hunt Storm, they are comfortable with each other, and their individual skills could be a powerful asset for the next generations of Lizardman.

Carnage asked, politely, as he remembered how proficient the female was with the Whip; that she used to keep the most rebellious of the creatures of the stables in check; a weapon that was her namesake too, what has she seen in him to be interested in a mating?. She admitted that Carnage´s personality was unique, to say the least, and that most of the inhabitants of the Den are convinced that he was totally out of his mind. Harsh, but real, Carnage already suspected that it was not fresh news. However, his success was quite impressive; a lot of Guides had to admit that his magical talent was off the chart, his intelligence and cunning, the creation of [Rituals] and weapons that would help the war effort and; especially the main reason of Whip; the fact that he has managed to tame two Butcherclaws.

[Butcherclaw Riders] were rare, mostly because the powerful predator never allow anyone weaker than them to ride them, usually, most of the prospect riders need serious preparations in magic, weapons, and armor, to be even close to one of those warbeasts; but, somehow, Carnage has managed to do it by simply jump into the pen of the Butcherclaw and wrestle two of them into submission.

That was; in a crude language; hot as hell for a Tamer like Whip, and she considered the possibility that their children could inherit that trait and become [Lizardman Butcherclaw Riders], one of the most powerful cavalry in the world and quite the reinforcement to have in the war against the Southern Empire.

Carnage was torn between flattered and amazed; so he was considered a strong parent among the females of the Clan, and here he was, convinced that he was not going to get any tail; pun totally intended; until he traveled to more varied cities or learned some kind of Shape-shifting abilities. It does seem that Pandora and Epimeteo are going to have their desired grandbabies soon.

Will that erase the [We Want Grandbabies!] gift or whatever from his powers?. Call it a hunch, but Carnage was not entirely convinced that Pandora is going to be satisfied with two to six possible grandbabies, especially when all of them would be Lizardman of some kind.

Carnage accepted, still shocked by the development, but curious as hell about how does the mating season works; even with all his previous experience in the marital arts, it was the first time that Carnage was going to get laid as a completely different creature. As Lizardman, he instinctively knew how to rump and hump, but he hasn't had the slightest idea of what kind of experience is going to be, and, to be honest, Carnage was curious as hell.

However, that brought him the fourth point of the list, and it was to leave behind some gifts for his children, after all, as soon as the mating season is over, he was going to be sent to war, and he could possibly, never saw his children again. Well, it was kind of surprising how okay with that though he was; the children will be Kin and will be protected by the Clan, so Carnage knew that they are going to be okay, not to mention that Whip was going to be around for a long time, busy with the requirements of the stables and pens of the Den.

Gambesons, all the knowledge he has about Butcherclaws; including their fondness of chewing Stegox scales and how they loved to hunt dangerous preys along their ride; a set of lesser but useful rituals and some weapons that would help them, if they become the [Butcherclaw Riders], like her mother was expecting. That would be enough.

Truth to be told, Carnage, or better said Magnus, was father of hundreds of children in the past; he knew that the traits of the Campione are not genetically passed, sure the children would be exceptional, but nothing like their Campione parent, and the worst lesson of it all, was how his own children grow old and die, meanwhile he continued living. It was harsh to survive your own descendants, but with the pass of the time and the repetition of the fact that he was going to survive his children, Magnus grew insensitive to the matter. Carnage was using that same mindset to distance himself; not completely of course; from the children that are going to grow inside Whip, in less than a couple of weeks.

And a busy couple of weeks those were, between the preparations to move into the front lines, and the mating season hitting all the fertile females of the Clan, the entire Stormrage Clan was busy with all kind of activity. Much to the surprise of Carnage, Whip was not the only female that came to him looking for a mating; for his eternal surprise even Aurora, the caretaker of the pen, asked him for the possibility of having eggs together.

Pretty much for the same reasons that Whip; Carnage has caused quite the impression on the pens when he tamed the Butcherclaws and have two of them at his beck and call. It was exceptional, even for the common Butcherclaw rider. Doubling his efforts to left something behind for his twelve possible descendants, Carnage accepted Aurora´s and Whip´s request and denied the rest, arguing that the two females would take all the mating season time, in order to ensure pregnancy. And he was not mistaken.

Once the mating season hit them, and as Carnage has predicted Storm and Rain were going to try their hand at breeding some exceptional Lizardman; Carnage took Aurora and Whip into his private quarters and did not get out of there in four days until the females assured him that they were pregnant. A quick [Body Magic] spell, confirmed indeed that he was going to be the father of ten little Lizardman, five from each female Lizardman.

Sex has been a curious experience, surprisingly similar to the sex that he knew as human; Campione or not; but at the same time, different. It was a more intimate and intense experience than he expected.

First, the two of them will start by sharing their body heat, embracing each other and mixing their tongues; in a massive exchange of pheromones that would put them in the mood. Once their sexual organs have reached an adequate excitement, the male will penetrate the female and deposit his seed, slowly and carefully granting that the seed will be deposited in the egg chambers of the female uterus. During all this process, the two prospective parents would be embracing each other, sharing heat and pheromones thought their bodies and tongues and thanks to the sensitivity of the nerve bundles in both sexes sexual organs, it was a most pleasuring experience for the both of them.

Four days of sex later, Carnage was sure that Pandora was going to be the Grandmother of ten healthy Lizardman of unknown variants. Aurora and Whip were exultant and thanked Carnage for accepting the request and a wonderful time. Aurora explained, that this has been the longest mating that she has had in a long time. Usually, it was a bit more rushed thing, trying to fill as much seed as possible inside of them and wait for the best; but Carnage has taken things slowly and keep the mating until they were filled for sure, ensuring the fertilization of all the eggs present in the chambers. It was a way more pleasurable and effective mating, Aurora had to admit, and one hell of a first time for Whip, that evolved in the same generation of Carnage.

In all, Carnage felt pretty good; he was going to be the proud parent of ten healthy Lizardman, of unknown variation for the moment. For what Aurora told him, as she already had several litters, the usual pregnancy time is six months, so, in half a year, Carnage would be the father of ten Lizardman and Pandora would have her grandbabies. With a little luck, she would be satisfied and would pamper the little hatchlings, leaving Carnage´s love a life in peace.

 _[We want Grandbabies! Activated]_

 _[Pandora´s Message: Not bad Magnus, little hatchlings are kind of cute, especially if they had the bright colored scales, but this is only the beginning Mister; we want diversity and quantity so get to it, chop, chop]_

 _[Epimeteo´s Message: Don't worry, I will take care of the hatchlings, they cannot be blessed by Pandora, as you are, but I will make sure that they become the exceptional [Butcherclaw Riders] like their mothers wanted, good luck with your mom´s antics, she is eager to see what´s next and pamper the little things]._

Carnage knew it, it was too easy to be true; anyhow he owned a big one to Epimeteo. The husband of Pandora has been called the Fool, but the man was everything but that; Carnage took note of look out for a way to pay homage to Epimeteo as well, the man is taking care of the family and that was something that went a long way in Carnage´s book.

The resume of the mating season has resulted quite interesting to Carnage, discovering a lot of curious things, getting his first progeny in this new world, forging a powerful weapon, worthy of a king, and earning the respect of all the Clan.

Quite the accomplishment, after all.

On a cloudy day, a thousand new reinforcements moved out from the Stormrage clan Den to the eastern battlefront against the Southern Empire. Accompanied by his Butcherclaws, Carnage was smiling all the way to the battlefront.

Carnage went to war.

 **End Chapter.**

 **Character Info:**

 **Name:**

Carnage "Carn" Runescales of the Stormrage Clan.

 **Race:**

Lizardman Overlord- Level 75

 **Former Talon:**

Leader: Storm Thundercry (Wyvern rider "Thunderfury) [King]

-Rain Swiftjaws (Swiftclaw rider""Windcutter") [Swiftclaw Rider]

-Leaf Windtamer (Swiftclaw rider"Pathfinder") [Pathfinder]

 **Unique Skills:**

-Circle of Usurpation: Much like the Authority, Carn can steal a Skill/Authority/Trait from the body of a defeated enemy, but only if it has been defeated by him.

-Divine´s Bane: As former Devil King, Carn is the bane of any divine spellcaster or divine creature.

-We want grandbabies!- Pandora and Epimeteo, wanted grandbabies to spoil, like it or not, Carn would have a harem.

 **Skills/Traits/Abilities.**

-God of Magic: Carn can learn any kind of magic, thanks to the Blessing of Pandora.

-Oldest soul: Carn had all the memories of Magnus Blacksson, the strongest and Oldest Campione of a bygone era. As magic comes from the soul, he had a godly reserve of magic to fuel his spells.

-Arcane System:

-Earth Magic Tier 3 1- [Echo]/ 2-[Metal sense]/3-[Earthcraft]

-Sky Magic Tier 1 1-[Feather fall]

-Body Magic Tier 3 1-[Buff]/2-[Heal]/3-[Regenerate]

-Mind Magic Tier 1 1-[Zero Mind]

-Abyss Magic Tier 3 1-[Night Spear]/2-[Dark Mantle] /3-[Abyssal walker]

Death magic Tier 1 1-[Death senses]

-Necromancy affinity Tier 3 1/2/3 [Summon Undead Servants Skeletons/Shadow Skeletons/Draugr]

-Ritual System:

-Unseen Servant: Carn can summon a Servant that acts as Steward, cleaning crew, cook, and infinite warehouse. He called the androgynous being of pure magic, Carravers It does have the sense of humor of an English butler.

-Algiz: Provides Magic Resistance (Arcane, Divine, and Ritual But NO Kinesis) for nine hours/days/years to a maximum of nine individuals depending on the magic power, components, sacrifices, etc.

-Revenant: Creates a powerful undead servant called Revenant.

-Requiem: Destroys an undead and releases its soul to whatever afterlife it was supposed to go.

 **Usurped Skills/Traits/Abilities/etc:**

 **Skills:**

-Pyrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural fire.

-Electrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural electricity.

-Acidkinesis: Carn can create and manipulate dangerous acids.

-Webbing: Carn can generate natural webbing of three colors steel, gold and red, he can project it from fingertips, mouth, tail tip and ass.

 **Blessings:**

-Red Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the red head of Tiamat, Carn domain over fire is way superior to the rest of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Green Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the green head of Tiamat, Carn is the best poisoner of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Black Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the black head of Tiamat, Carn is the best Necromancy user of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

 **Traits:**

-Spit Poison: Carn can spit poison of varying virulence.

-Poisonproof: Carn is immune to all natural poison and highly resistant against magical poisoning

-Walk Walls: As a spider, Carn can walk barehanded/footed over non-slippery/wet surfaces

-Spiderkin: All Spiders considers Carn one of them, thanks to the effect of the [We want Grandbabies] bless, all female Arachnes found Carn specially Alluring.

-Stone Mimetic: Took the appearance, texture, and smell of the surrounding rocks, but not his hardness.

-Fireproof: Carn is immune to all kind of natural fire and highly resistant against magical fire.

-Blindsight: Perfect, 360º sight at 10 meters, no matter the conditions.

-Stone carving claws: 12 inches twin stingers from his forearms capable of cutting and carving stone with easiness.

-Mimetic: Carn can mimetic with the environment, better than any chameleon would do.

-Corrosive Stench: Carn could generate acid, nauseate and acid sweat.

-Hardened scales: Carn´s scale hardness is massively increased.

-Blood drinker: Carn can absorb the blood of his preys, healing himself from even crippling wounds.

-Elasticity: Carn can make his body as elastic as a pile of goo, without losing any strength or resistance.

-Tireless body: As soon as his magic can keep exhaustion at bay, Carn will not tire.

-Sharp scales: Carnage scales could turn sharp and edgy, wounding anything that touched them without protection

-Might of the predator: Carnage muscles are denser, stronger and more durable than they should, giving him strength, way beyond his size.

-Ghostkin: Ghosts, specters, phantoms and other apparitions, consider Carnage Kin and do not molest him. Thanks to the effect of [We want Grandbabies!], all female apparitions found Carn, specially Alluring.

-Multidexterity: Hands, feet, tail, tentacles, tongue; no matter, Carn can use any appendage as it was his good hand.


	6. Warslayer II

**4.2-Warslayer II**

As soon as the thousands of troops reached their destination and joined the other reinforcements of the other Clans; reaching an impressive eight thousand troops as reinforcements; Carnage understood why this battlefront was one of the hardest for the Dragon Empire.

The entire geography of the terrain was a nightmare of hidden valleys, rocky plains, dense forest, and cliffs, with a rabid sea at the right, an enemy army in front and impossible terrains to the left. A retreat was Not an option for this flank of the Dragon Empire; if it falls, it would let the Southern Empire, complete access to the lands of the Stormrage and Grimmwhisper Clan.

Eight thousand new warriors joined the five thousand who were still defending the land. The majority of the Stormrage and Blizzardhowl Clan troops had to move to the coast, as they were in charge of the Naval and Air defenses and the constant incursions that the flying slave races of the Southern Empire tried to put over the Dragon Empire Armies.

The Harpies, Thunderbirds, and other bird-like races were not common of the Southern Empire, they were slave soldiers that were forced to fight; their slave marks obliged them to fight for their commanders in the Southern Empire. This kind of slavery was something that Carnage; and Magnus in the past; found stupid and foolish, it would create discontent and at some point, the slaves would found a way to rebel and butcher their previous masters.

From the thirteen thousands soldiers; more or less; around three thousand were deployed to the Coast, dealing with any warships and aerial attacks, not to mention the occasional Sea Serpent; the infamous progeny of Jormungand, the Queen of the Deeps and supposedly bitter rival of Tiamat for the title of Queen of the Oceans.

The Cold Sea; more an ocean than a sea; was the eastern border of the Dragon Empire, the waters were in a constant turmoil and almost permanently freezing cold, no matter the season, filled with the violent and dangerous progeny of Jormungand. Traveling through it, was a question of careful logistics, sturdy ships and massive quantities of magical protections; and even with all of that, there is not a safe journey. Air was the better option, but the traveling distance was enormous and the few islands between the masses of land, were not big enough to establish a mercantile series of outposts.

The Blizzardhowl Navy and the Stormrage Clan Air cavalry would be defending the coasts from the Southern Empire Aerial Legion, meanwhile, the rest of the Clan´s Forces would be defending the irregular terrains from the Imperial Legion forces; eight thousand combatants would be deployed in sixteen companies of about five hundred combatants, each.

Instead of creating specific companies, they become a mixture of warriors and specialists that could move swiftly over the irregular terrain and reinforce any strongholds that the Dragon Empire had, in order to keep the Legion out of the Dragon Empire lands.

Carnage and his previous Talon was assigned to one of this companies, the Company had a bit higher number of cavalry forces, mostly Swiftclaws riders and a few more specialized beasts like Carnage´s own Butcherclaws and a squad of Saurus in an armored Bronto, that was capable of crush the walls of any encampment or provide high ground to any archers or spellcasters.

Considering the terrain, carrying around siege constructions was a foolish errand, instead they are constructed in site, as fast as the people could build it; that was one of the reasons why there was little siege engines in this battlefront, more to the west, there were open plains were catapults, trebuchets and ballistas were the kings of the battlefield, as the territory was filled with fortress and stronghold to keep invaders at bay.

As soon as they were divided and informed of their destinies, the sixteen companies moved with haste; the soon they reach the strongholds the best would be for the Kin that has been enduring until then. The company of Carnage has been assigned to a fortress that was located deep inside the enemy territory; a vanguard post, that was one of the first that has to endure the constant assaults of legions of Myrmidons. Another of the oddities of this battlefront was the bigger presence of Myrmidon warriors, even if there were legions of those bastards spawned all over the land; in this flank, they had a bigger presence; not really sure why was the case, not that anyone has any time to investigate.

The Dragon Empire forces in this battlefront were already busy enough, to try to investigate nothing.

Of the five hundred warriors that formed the Company of Carnage, called the Storm Talon Company; Storm was the "higher" variant present, that´s why it has taken his name. His [Lizardman King] variant, put him a step above the rest, and the common warriors of the clan understood, almost at an instinctual level that he was the leader of the Company. The first thing Storm did, was to reunite his old Talon and another higher intelligent variants present and devise a quick and fluid chain of command.

Carnage, Leaf, Blaze; a Brimstone [Saurus Scorcher]; Night; a female Grimmwhisper [Lizardman Swiftclaw Rider]; and Carrion; a female Stormrage [Kobold scout]. Those five become his generals and commanders, each one with different troops and responsibilities. Carnage knew that Storm would have loved to have Rain at his side, but the [Swiftclaw Rider] was pregnant with the children of both and even if she could fight relatively well during the first month, risking their children was foolish.

The Company was quite a mixture of troops, capable of performing well in all kind of roles on the battlefield but not overly specialized in any of them. It didn't really surprise Carnage, the terrain was not ready for massive battles, not specialized troops like heavy cavalry or siege engines, unless they were attacking a fortress, and with the high numbers of aerial troops around, the battles were more a series of violent skirmishes than anything else; except when they attack fortress and the such, where the waves of Myrmidons were able to tire anyone.

Two hundred and sixty infantry troops, an eclectic mix of all the Clans [Lizardman warriors], curiously, all with halberds and rectangular shields, similar to the Scutum design that the Legionaries used; among them, twenty [Saurus Juggernauts] like Fang, several feet taller than even the taller Lizardman, moved with the infantry as their heavy vanguards.

Next were about a hundred and twelve Swiftclaw riders, mostly Stormrage and Grimmwhisper with a unique group of Fireclaws; a curious, bulkier, version of the Swiftclaws, that could breathe fire and had a low capability for [Pyrokinesis]. Leaving apart, Carnage´s own Butcherclaws, there was only seven Butcherclaw Riders among the cavalry and all of them came from Brimstone.

Next were the Kobolds, near a hundred of them accompany the Company as scouts, trappers, and explorers; the majority of them were Grimmwhisper and Swampmist; surprisingly the Kobolds had their own cavalry, seventy [Kobold Spider Riders] and [Kobold Blindgon Riders].

The Spiders were the kind that Carnage saw in the Cave of Trials; and thanks to the [Allure] effect of [Spiderkin] all the Spiders were quite comfortable with him, instead of the usual hiss and poison-spitting that they made at anything that was not their riders. Blindgon lizards were a new thing for Carnage, the pony-sized Iguana-like lizards were able to run over any surface and spitting a blinding poison with impressive accuracy even to a hundred feet.

Next were the Aerial troops, twenty in total, between three Wyvern riders like Storm and wyverlings as main forces, all from Stormrage´s Clan forces.

Finally, Carnage´s own spellcasters, twenty-eight spellcasters, that were a mixture of all Clans and Lizardman and Kobolds with a Blizzardhowl Saurus variant, called [Saurus Sorcerer] as a surprise. None of them were riders of any kind, except Carnage, and he preferred to walk with the spellcasters, knowing them better and leaving the Butcherclaws as bodyguards and scouts for the main army along Leaf and Carrion.

In all, they were a little, but talented, battle force that could cover a lot of distance quickly and act like anything that is needed when the battle starts. Storm wanted his Company as rounded as he could, as he knew that any kind of specialization in this conditions, required years of training in the terrain to be accomplished, not to mention that Storm was wary of the Commander of the enemy forces.

Contrary to the highly mobile and individualistic Companies of the Dragon Empire; at last, only in this specific Battlefront; the Southern Empire had one leader that commanded all the forces. The Imperial Legate Lucretia Severa, one of the most brilliant minds of the Empire.

She commanded three Imperial Legions, about one thousand and five hundred Legionaries per Legion, about four thousand and five hundred human Legionaries; two Slave Legions, about a thousand slave troops each, mostly monsters of all kind and enough Myrmidon legions to bloat the bloody sun.

Myrmidons were counted in the tens of thousands, and that was only in this battlefront.

Eight thousand Kin against around twenty-six thousand Southern Empire troops.

Things didn't look good, although, Kin had the physical advantage; the Kin can endure a lot more than the common legionaries and most of the slave troops but had a hard time against the Myrmidons, who are like bloody ants and could swarm anything with enough time and numbers. And Legate Severa did know how to take advantage of that.

Unfortunately for her, Kin never surrender and always found a way to come on top, it was part of the Creed of Tiamat, she was cast away from God´s Realm, and yet she was the Patron Goddess of one the most powerful countries of the world.

The Storm Talon company moved forward and tried to cover the distance to their designated spot, as fast as they can; they did carry supplies that the fortress needed and the sooner they get, the better could they endure the next wave of the Southern Empire assaults. And there was going to be a lot more waves, even if the Dragon Empire has been keeping the Southern Empire at bay; as the Legion has never set foot on the Dragon Empire Territory. This attrition war has started to become absurd, only the waves of slaves and Myrmidons keep the Legions forces to admit that they had no chance of winning; well, that and the strategic mind of Legate Severa, who has conquered more fortress in three years than any other commander in the previous twenty seven years of war.

Following the pace of the main bulk of the army; and sending _Bloodjaws_ with Leaf, so they could have a bit of exercise and a snack; Carnage took his time to meet his new fellow spellcasters. Supposedly, Carnage was the one in charge, but he was not much into leading them; not yet, not without a clear idea of what kind of wars are this and fought his first battle; Carnage needed to taste the war before he could even dare to call himself a leader.

In the beginning, they were not entirely sure of the credentials of Carnage, but the revelation that he was the Black head Chosen by conquest and that he has been able to summon his own [Unseen Servant] since day one, shut all kind of doubts quite quickly. With the unfortunate consequence that the Grimmwhisper Clan members present in the Company, immediately turned to him as his Leader de facto. Such devotion was admirable, but it was a bit early to give him any credit when Carnage has done nothing to gain it.

It didn't take much to become clear that Carnage was the best spell caster of all of them, as soon as the [Grimoire of the Thousand Truths] was in the open; as Carnage wanted to take notes of the conversation that he had with the [Saurus Sorcerer]. Icicle was a stoic individual whose affinity for the [Water Magic] branch was so high that he ended creating his own branch called [Blizzard Magic], in honor of his tutor in the magical arts, a Priest of Tiamat that was with the main flotilla in the Cold Sea. They saw the floating and chained Grimoire, realized the power and effort that one has to put in the creation of such an item, and realized that even if he did not appear like it, Carnage was leagues above them in the knowledge of the [Arcane System].

Carnage, on the other hand, was a bit more worried about the spellcasters under his command, as much as they are talented; especially three of them, Icicle, a [Lizardman Corpse Talker] from Grimmwhisper and a [Kobold spellcaster] from Brimstone; they are too varied to act as a coherent unit. So far only ten of the twenty-eight has reached Tier 2 of the [Abyss Magic] and twenty has reached Tier 3 of their affinities. But in a sense, it was good; they are the perfect batteries for all kind of powerful [Rituals], from wards to barriers, to boundaries, repellents, kill-grounds, empowering fields, heck, even landscaping [Ritual] could be put if the twenty-eight worked together to fuel the [Ritual].

Yes, Carnage has some nasty ideas to pull in practice and anyone who saw his wicked smile felt the urgent necessity of shivering or run to the hills.

Much to the disappointment of Carnage, the travel until the stronghold that they are reinforcing come without a problem, the main push of the Imperial Legion was on the coast this time of the year; trying to gain a small foothold in the coast, so they could sail, ships filled to the brim with Myrmidons into the mainlands of the Dragon Empire.

Bizzardhowl Navy and the Stormrage Aerial Forces are pushing them back, causing them severe casualties, but the Southern Empire didn't care much about casualties, the vast majority of them were among slave legions and monsters, and the common opinion of the human ruler caste of the Southern Empire about the monsters and slaves was that they were expendable. The slaves were only there to die for them, who were the rightful heirs of the land, as Jusar I stated during his ascension to the Imperial Throne.

In the past, Carnage has found people like those; one of the reasons why the Roman Empire he knew fell apart, was how they grow complacent and let all the work to the slaves who started to rebel and cause restless in the Empire, surrounded by enemies on all their frontiers.

In this case, it would be even worse as the monsters and slaves are a vital part of the Army and practically were the main workforce of the vital logistics of any country and government. But Carnage was happy that it was that way, it would only make things easier to destroy them in the future, for the attempt of invasion of his homeland.

Carnage has it wrote as long-term projects, found and kill a Demigod; Jusar VIII was the most possible candidate to be slain; to see if his [Circle of Usurpation] could acquire Authorities like all Campiones did in the past.

Once they reached the Stronghold, Carnage immediately realized that this was a severely punished position; the walls were in a dire need of repairs, the main towers of the walls had enough arrows on them to be counted as a second roof, and all the terrain in a hundred meters around the outer walls was practically charred earth. One of the watchers saw them and soon the echo of a horn reached them, welcoming them to the fortress.

No need to say that the Kin on the fortress was delighted to see them, especially the caravan of supplies that came with the Company and carried a lot of essentials that the fortress has been needing desperately.

The fortress was under the temporary command of Moss, a Swampmist [Saurus Juggernaut] that has been doing all he could to keep the fortress up and running, rejecting all the waves that the Legion was tossing at them; they had several close calls, but at the end, they had managed to keep them at bay. Especially when the new weapons and armors from the Clans came. Carnage keeps his mouth shut, enough fame did he have already to reveal that the Shellbreaker that Moss was carrying was his invention. The Kobolds of the Company already has been spreading his Benevolent One fame after he invented the gambesons for them.

The first day, Carnage and all his spellcasters keep doing all they could to repair the damages of the walls and structures of the Fortress. The fortress, by the way, was called Fort Orchid, in a twisted joke of destiny, as it was the place where Lady Orchid, a Dragon, fell at the hands of a powerful Tribune, a Hero by the standards of the human race, and his Griffon riders.

[Earthcraft] was a blessing for all that tasks, and thanks to the massive amount of magical power that Carnage had, he could rebuild the place in a quarter of the time that it would take, even for a specialized artisan. Good thing that among the memories of Magnus was how to build and repair all kind of fortifications, Fort Orchid was not so complicated that it would need specialized knowledge, it was a solid and robust piece of stonework, wood, and metal.

The real problem was the magical defenses of the Fort; there were on the verge of shutting down or directly destroyed by the Legion´s spellcasters. Fort Orchid magical defenses were null, only those that the still surviving spellcaster could maintain, blocking any possible intervention on the battlefield, except as barriers; and not all spellcaster could provide effective, army-sized magical defense like that. Fortunately for the Kin in Fort Orchid, Carnage can do it and that was practically the entire second day on his staying in the Fort. Recruiting all the spellcasters Carnage could and enact a more potent, slightly altered [Aglyz] that would provide all the people inside the Fort Orchid; nine months of the strongest magical protection they could muster.

For hours, the entire roster of spellcasters of the Fort chanted in synchronize to enact the [Aglyz], transforming the sturdy walls and foundations of the Fort, into a massive rune array that will repel any spell from Tier 5 and will reduce the effect of any spell of superior Tier; although, if one spellcaster capable of using Tier 6 appears, they are pretty much screwed, magic protection or not. Increasing the size of the original runic circle, making an offering of the blood of all the Kin in the Fort to Tiamat and the mother earth, burning a mixture of ingredients whose valor would be enough to keep a human family feed for ten years and pouring all they had in fueling the [Aglyz].

Fort Orchid glowed like a golden sun for a second, showing the rune that etched itself onto the walls of the fortress.

They had to sleep for the entire next day, but the morale of the Kin and the conditions of the Fort improved overnight; from a stressed border outpost, it became a solid and fortified position that could endure a lot of punishment, especially, when Carnage discovered that Myrmidons are practically magically null.

They lack any knowledge of magic, they do not have spellcasters of any kind, they do have [Telepaths] and some [Soma] users from the [Kinesis] system, but they do not have anything magical related.

In fact, their weapons and armors are crude and basic, up to a point that they have attacked with stone weapons and without any kind of armor. Well, Kin did not usually wear armor, it was uncomfortable for them and their natural scales tended to be as hard as a steel chain mail, but the stone weaponry was almost absurd until Carnage made some quick calculations.

Considering that there was near twenty thousand Myrmidons, just in this battlefront, that was twenty thousand set of armor and weapons, even if they were made of the cheapest iron, at the rate that the Southern Empire deliver the Myrmidon to die, they will exhaust their iron reserves faster than their food reserves.

That was another thing, Myrmidons ate everything edible, from grass to corpses, with equal measure and without a single protest.

Back to the topic of their weaponry, crafting crude gear was perfect for expendable soldiers that are going to die, that´s why they toss waves of Myrmidons, they are expendable, easily replaceable soldiers.

Even so, the lines of supplies of the Southern Empire must be a pain. Feeding six thousand soldiers was not cheap, either easy; adding twenty thousand more, even if they could just pasture like cattle, there will be a point where there will be no more pasture to feed on. The Myrmidon must require absurd quantities of logistics, so what would happen if they managed to find and block those routes?. Or even better, poison or stole that same food under their noses, emptying food warehouses and make it appear as it was not touched.

[Unseen Servant] produced as a side effect, enough storage space; at last in Carnage´s case, to house a city. With that in mind, if Carnage isolated the part of the ritual that created that effect, and embroidered it on a surface, lets say the insides of a Gambeson, a small, highly mobile force of Kobolds could slip past the defenses and stole everything from under their noses and, now that they were at it, spread a poison all over the "food" for the Myrmidons.

Slowly, a wicked smile formed in the face of Carnage and every Kin near him, give a step to the side and uncomfortably looked at the crazy but amazing Lizardman of metallic colored scales that has repaired and improved Fort Orchid back to its perfect state in two days.

They do not know Carnage, beyond all the rumors that run around him, each one of them as preposterous as the next, but at the display that he has made in two days and the smile; wicked enough to unrest Lizardman, a cold-blooded race; they started to ponder that maybe, those rumors were not as preposterous as they initially thought.

Incidentally, Grimmwhisper was surprisingly content; such a powerful Lizardman, was the champion of the Black head, their patron's head, so they had little reason to do not being exultant, especially when Carnage created dozens of skeletons to aid in the chores and menial labors of the Fort during the first day.

[Necromancy] was a blessing from the Black head after all.

The Kobolds of three clans were calling him the Benevolent One, Grimmwhisper, Stormrage and Swampmist; the gambesons, rapiers and fencing techniques, being capable of eating Grub and made it taste better with little effort and a couple of species was more than enough for them to be convinced that Carnage was an envoy of Tiamat.

As much as Carnage would have delighted to be respected as this, Carnage was a firm believer in backing up the words with actions and facts, otherwise are hot air.

On the third day, Carnage crafted his stealing and storing gambeson and expend an entire golden ingot in the embroidering of the rune in the insides of the padded jacket. That was his last gold ingot, Carnage has looted it from the treasure that Mist, the previous Chosen of the Black head, had in his lair, but it was for a good cause, he was sure that this war was going to offer him plenty of opportunities of plunder the resources of the Southern Empire Legions.

With his job finished; an entire gunmetal gray gambeson made of his own webbing and the gold inside; Carnage baptized it as the [Thieve´s Gambeson]; Carnage moved to the main building of the Fort, where Storm was trying to concoct some kind of strategy to face the enemy.

So far, the scouts have reported that there was a lot of Myrmidon camps surrounding the Fortress and they are only waiting for someone to take control of those forces to make them fall over Fort Orchid, like a swarm. Storm was not an idiot, and realized that it was a lazy strategy, not what he expected from the famous Legate Severa, so there must be a trick, with that spirit, Storm has sent all the scouts and pathfinders he had at his disposal to try to get as informed as possible from the enemy movements. The aerial patrols have told him that there were at least two hundred Harpy warriors doing the same kind of scouting that the Kin was doing.

Storm suspected that the Legate wanted the reinforcements to reach the Fort, trying to get protection inside the broken walls, and then unleash hell over them, as the Fort should not have been able to endure a massive assault; then that glorious bastard of Carnage happened and the walls and the wards were up and running in two days.

It was not enough to set the initiative void; however the Myrmidons were not moving, unless there was a leader among them, and judging from the reports of the scouts it was not the case. Myrmidons are not the cleverest of the troops, far from it, they are even dumber than the dumbest of the Lizardman warriors, who are far from being the sharpest tool on the box. Setting hundreds in Myrmidons in motion was a tiresome chore, they need constant attention. Much like ants without a queen, they just wait for instructions.

"Commander". Smirked Carnage entering into the room that Storm has set as command room. "Have you already devised a strategy that made us demolish the enemy and ride back to the Den as glorious heroes?".

"Tiamat protects me, shut up Carnage". Huffed back Storm, without any malice, the [Lizardman King] knew Carnage very well, and this was just friendly banter. "It is still too soon, I need to see the enemy, see how they attack, their patterns and what on earth is the Legate Severa doing, this is not something that I would have expected from a supposed brilliant strategist".

"What do you mean?", asked Carnage, forgetting for the moment about the [Thieve´s gambeson].

Storm was not an incompetent leader, in the months that Carnage has known him, the [Lizardman King] has demonstrated a fine instinct for strategy and warfare, but with the same penchant for overwhelming power over his enemies as Carnage. Storm blamed him for such an antic.

"They had the numbers, and even with the logistical nightmare that the Myrmidons are, they should have crushed this Fort by now". Pointed out Storm to the maps on the table that revealed the camps that the scouts and pathfinders had found. "Moss has done a wonderful job, but without magical defenses, broken walls and barely a hundred of Kin left in the Fort, merely an assault of one of this camps would be enough".

Storm was right, something was not right. Carnage could see it clear as a day, so far the entire strategy of the Southern Empire has been relying on the Myrmidons; magical beings that were akin to an ugly hybrid between a man and an ant, sturdy as hell, relentless, fearless and all male...wait a bloody second.

"Storm, a question, has anyone ever seen a female Myrmidon of any kind?". Suddenly asked Carnage who was convinced that they can not be that lucky.

"No, as far as I known, never has anyone seen a female Myrmidon". Answered Storm back, not really seeing the importance of the question.

"Can you call Moss to the room?, I have a hunch that I want to confirm". Suddenly Carnage observed the map, looking for any indication of what he suspected was happening. Myrmidons, he knew them, those monsters existed in his world.

Achilles commanded them; Zeus created them from a colony of ants, so maybe, maybe he was onto something, an impossibility and a very interesting occurrence that could turn the tides a little.

"Sure", Storm eyed his friend with caution, it was not the first time he has one of those crazy inspirations, and more often than not, he nailed them.

Carnage was either a seer or the luckiest bastard in the world, considering that he was blessed by Pandora, Storm cannot be sure what would be the correct one.

As Carnage was left alone in the command room, he eyed the map and without even a doubt, read all the reports and information that the scout has delivered to Storm in the three days that they have been here. All the Myrmidon Camps, the Harpy centuries, the absence of real Legionaries or ground slaves, the time since the first waves of Myrmidons appeared, Carnage lacked a couple of pieces of the puzzle to complete the riddle.

Not much later, Moss struggled a little to pass through the door, soon followed by an amused Storm, Carnage´s visage was twisted in a visage of concentration and with a grim expression that sent all kind of alarms in the mind of Storm. Storm has rarely seen Carnage like that, only when he fought Mist, back in their probing Saga, did Carnage had a similar, almost snarling visage like he was going to tear something apart at the minimal provocation. Heck, even Moss sensed it, and the Kin was capable of flattening Carnage like a pancake, however, there was something in Carnage that spoke of caution.

"Moss, sorry to disturb your work, but you are our local expert in Myrmidons". Joked Carnage, turning his face to them and losing the intimidating glare, much to his Kin relief.

"Not really a problem, I was supposed to help with the reconstruction but your spellcasters had done it in a blink; right now I am kind of free, just polishing my Shellbreaker, Tiamat blesses you for it, by the way". Moss was a straightforward Kin, surprisingly similar to Fang, back at the Stormrage Clan Den.

"Crush bastards to your heart's content". Laughed Carnage. "I made that as a bet with a Kin like you, another [Saurus Juggernaut]; before I knew it, there was a hundred of those circulating, but back at the main topic, have you ever seen a female Myrmidon?".

"Not in combat". Replied Moss in a second. "I have never been in one of their camps, except when we exterminated one, but I have never seen a female of their kind".

"Who leads the Myrmidons in combat?". Asked Carnage.

"Human Legionaries mostly". Shrugged Moss. "All of them were very good fighters, they took down a lot of good Kin before we managed to kill them".

"Did the Myrmidon retreated afterward or did they fight to the death, but in way less efficient way?". Asked Carnage who was seeing his suspicions confirmed.

"The latter, they still fought but lacked any coordination, it was like fighting against training mannequins". Said Moss that didn't really see the importance of the questions.

"Moss, do you know of how the humans evolve?". Continue asking Carnage.

"They do?". Blinked Moss surprised, that was new for him.

"Not like we do, they get "Jobs", they go through jobs like [Warrior], then "evolve" into superior jobs". Explained Carnage who understood why Legate Severa must have been smashing her head against a wall several times and why the Myrmidons had not become the plague that they should be.

"Sorry Carnage, but I am as lost as Moss". Said Storm. That news about the Jobs system of the humans was something new but humans were confusing like that.

"They cannot attack us". Smiled Carnage like a predator. "They cannot attack us, because they need a Human Hero to lead them, otherwise the Myrmidons do not obey anyone".

"UH?!". Said Storm and Moss at the same time.

Exactly like back home, Myrmidons only obeyed superior Human, beings, people that were a step above the common cattle that was humankind. Descendants of Campiones, Children of the Gods, Demigods, Heroes, people like that. Achilles was the first in his world, every single time that the Myrmidons have attacked, a Human Hero from the Southern Empire has led them. Without a Hero, the Myrmidons are like lost puppies, they will attack if they are attacked, but otherwise, they would be completely lost without their masters.

"Every time that the Myrmidons attacked, they did under the command of a Human hero". Explained Carnage with a wicked smile. "Only a Human Hero; no matter if he is a Legate or the most humble of the Legionaries, could take command of Myrmidons and lead them into battle as a coherent unit".

"Legate Severa is a Liberto, a former slave, she is a Dark Elf". Widened his eyes Storm. "That's why they are surrounding us and keeping the Harpies watching over us; they are training a new Hero!, they can not attack, only use hordes of Myrmidons as guard dogs".

"Exactly". Smiled Carnage, "This battlefront is the most fluid of the war, short and brutal battles, hard to gain enough levels to evolve and twice as easy to lost powerful elites; the rest of the Battlefronts are more open and bloody, but at the same time, perfect to harvest powerful evolutions; essentially, we have drained them of heroes to took care of the Myrmidons". Carnage paused and scowl.

"Pandora protect us; now I have twice the respect I had for Legate Severa if she has kept us on our heels with such a handicap over her main assets, but even she has run out of human heroes in fifteen yea...". Carnage stopped and for the first time since Storm knew him, he saw Carnage´s scales took a paler shade.

Before Carnage´s Kin could ask what's wrong, Carnage took out his Grimoire, shackling the chains in the process and almost with a feverish speed he passed pages as the magic of the book showed the information that he was looking for. Carnage read the information that he was looking for, during a second, and then erupted in a very colorful and detailed tirade about what he was going to do, the day that he could put his claws into the Emperor of the Southern Empire.

"I believe that putting anything´s tail there, from that position, from that angle, and with that greasing would be not only severely painful but practically impossible". Deadpanned Moss.

"Wanna bet that he will manage to accomplish it?". Deadpanned back Storm and Moss wisely denied such a sucker´s bet.

"Carnage, not that I do not enjoy learning some fascinating and humiliating insults like that". Slowly called Storm to his altered friend, "but could you, in Tiamat´s name, explain to the rest of us what has altered you so much?".

Snorting and huffing to control his rage and anger, Carnage nodded to Storm and recollected his thoughts, keeping the Grimoire floating near him, open by the page that contained the information that has provoked such a rage attack.

"There are some [Rituals] and alchemical recipes that contains a set of ingredients, that can only be collected when an Ant Queen gives birth to another Queen to form a new colony". Started to explain Carnage, all playfulness out of his tone and expression. "This new queen had wings and could travel long distances, along with some strong, winged, males; the usual time frame for this expansion is fifteen years".

Silence. Deafening silence.

They understood. Fifteen years; exactly the amount of years that have passed since the Myrmidons appeared for the first time in the war against the Southern Empire. Soon there will be another Queen that could continue giving birth to thousands and thousands of Myrmidons; perhaps even winged; even if they are unarmed, they will be like a plague, crushing any opposition by sheer numbers.

An infinite army of fearless and totally devoted warriors. A complete nightmare.

Storm changed entirely the focus of the war; they are now hunting the Queen, even if any previous attempt of doing something similar has resulted in failure, this time they could not fall; there was too much at risk.

A second Queen, a second source of Myrmidons, no matter on what battlefront, would be disastrous, the Dragon Empire, who has been playing defensively, trying to let the Southern Empire burn itself out, would found themselves hard-pressed to keep with the overwhelming numbers of the Myrmidons, even with the high rate of recovery that the Kin had. Fortunately, they had a chance, without a hero to command the Myrmidons they had a short time of preparations.

However, when Storm reunited his commanders and revealed to them what Carnage has discovered, they were uncertainty among them; even if Carnage has nailed his suppositions, they were just that, suppositions; Carnage lacked any evidence about it. Truly the coincidences were a bit suspicious, but they were not ready for a wild goose chase, much less with four camps of Myrmidons all over them, the Harpies on the sky and Tiamat knows how many Legionaries and slave troops were going to be deployed.

Blaze and Leaf were the harder to convince, even If the dates and the information about ant queens for the [Ritual] were exact, that was very dangerous, they were practically abandoning the Fort to their luck. Curiously, Carrion and Night didn't even protest, if the Benevolent One/the Chosen of the Black head, said so, then that is was going to happen. Carnage knew of the wide berth that Chosen ones had; even if no one has told Storm about it yet, trying to make the Lizardman, earn each piece of recognition by himself; Carnage would have done the same, but the confidence of the Kobolds was something new.

Speaking of which, Carnage explained that it was not only a quest for survival, they are going to hit three objectives at the same time. First, the Myrmidons, they are standing there, sitting on the Camps, and essentially acting like dog guards. Second, locating the Queen and eliminating it and Third raiding the supply lines of the Legion and made those same supplies theirs.

Storm has planned quick and devastating strikes at the Myrmidons, hitting them with quick cavalry and baiting them into an ambush of Lizardman warriors, meanwhile, Storm and the aerial troops will keep the Harpies and any other possible aerial forces out of the main battle against the Myrmidons. At the time that the Myrmidons are being confronted, all the scouts would be mapping the terrains, especially those that have [Earth Magic] looking out for the underground galleries that must be there.

It was one of the things that Carnage thought were odd, during the time they need to cover the space between the main fortress of the Dragon Empire in this battlefront and Fort Orchid, they have seen zero troop movement.

Myrmidons were numbered by the twenty thousand, that is a big number, even if you narrow to more mobile legions of one thousand each. But no one has seen troop movements, and not only because of the lack of heroes, but because; like the ants, they came from; Myrmidons are subterranean creatures.

Leaf and Carrion noticed the same thing and added the search for galleries to the war effort, galleries are a hidden but dangerous pathway, a skilled magician; everybody turned his eyes to Carnage for a second; could bury entire divisions alive and cut short supply routes and escape routes. Leaf was enough capable in the [Earth Magic] to search for that, helped by Carrion and their spider riders, who could move silently and quickly, both during day and night; looking for those possible routes as they travel deeper into the enemy lines, with the [Thieve´s gambeson] stealing all the supplies that they could from the Southern Empire Forces.

With the forces they had in Fort Orchid, they could surely resist a prolonged siege; specially with new and shiny walls, but taking the fight to the enemy is always better, specially, if as Carnage has predicted, the Myrmidons, the main bulk of the enemy forces, are passive until a hero command them.

Storm would take the command of the aerial raids against the Harpies or any other flying forces that are keeping an eye on them, Night and Carnage, will take command of the Swiftclaws and the few Butcherclaws they had and hit like the wrath of Tiamat the nearest camp, trying to bait them into a trap, where Blaze and Moss would be waiting with all the infantry they could deploy without risking the defense of the Fort. Leaf and Carrion had their order and would disappear in the commotion, looking for their real objectives and to give hell the supply lines of the Southern Empire.

On a side note, Carnage found hilarious how the Kin had the advantage in foraging, as the Grub could be farm anywhere but only the Kin are capable of eating and gaining any sustenance from it. Humans and most of the slave races found the Grub impossible to eat, much less digest.

Carnage reunited his spellcasters and put Icicle on command of the spellcasters until he got back from the raid to the Myrmidon camp; giving instruction about how to rotate between defense and offense, Carnage divided the thirty-five spellcasters he had under his command into two groups. One will be kept in the Fort, constantly ready to maintain the defenses of the Fort, and the other will go with Blaze and Moss, and wait with them for the incoming horde of Myrmidons.

As the day breached out, the forces set into motion, the first to take the skies, were Storm and his fellow aerial troops, that fall upon the Harpies like sharks over a cattle of fish; thanks to the [Sky magic] and [Electrokinesis] that all of the troops sported in varied potency and skill; they could attack like their commander namesake and send their enemies in disarray. [Sky´s Wrath] proved to be as effective as Carnage always knew it would be, giving Storm reach and empowering his natural magical and [Kinesis] skills to an amazing degree.

Not a heartbeat after the Aerial troops slammed into the harpies, Carnage and Night, started their own run, at top speed, for the nearest Myrmidon Camp. The Butcherclaw were slower than the Swiftclaws, but they had longer strides and did not slow the others too much. In a heartbeat, they reached the walls of the camp, killing the few patrols of Myrmidons that stood in their ways and smashing the walls of the camp with brute force. Carnage has used [Earthcraft] to turn the base of the wooden posts of the walls into a more sand like terrain when _Bloodjaws_ crashed against those same posts, they were sent flying in splinters.

With the Butcherclaws as spearheads, the riders entered into the Myrmidon camp and started to kill all they had in sight, weapons raising and falling with methodical efficiency and cold-blooded dedication. There was a reason why Kin was feared as warriors in all the world, they are strong and cold-blooded, a terrible combination in any warrior or fighting professional.

[Hunger] harvested a good haul in that raid. The battleax was singing in joy as it bite and shredded the flesh and bones of this Myrmidons with each strike, the runes glow brighter and easier it becomes to cut the; naturally sturdy; flesh of the ant hybrids. The rest of the Butcherclaw spearhead was having the time of their lives too, this was exactly what they were made for, butchering the enemy apart.

Unfortunately, Carnage realized that the [Circle of Usurpation] has not activated, even if it was the first time that he killed a Myrmidon directly; the ant-like man was like wheat in front of the reaper for him. The lack of challenge seems that has blocked any possible gain that Carnage could have gained from these hybrids. [Circle of Usurpation] only activates when Carnage personally defeats an enemy and it could represent some challenge to him. Perhaps that´s why Carnage did not haul anything from the [Shadow Skeletons] back at his Saga, they did not represent a challenge.

Quickly and ruthlessly, the Swiftclaw ran over all the place, attacking and ambushing any Myrmidon resistance groups that started to form, before they could even pick up their weapons. Night had the raiders acting as they were natural packs of Swiftclaws, a decoy and the real strike strategy that worked wonders; the Myrmidons faced what looks like the attack and fall to the claws and fangs that come from their blindsides from a bunch of riders that they have not even seem.

However, Carnage knew that they are too little to clean the encampment all by themselves, even if individually they were superior to the Myrmidons; like ants; they are way more numerous. Once they have destroyed enough and carved enough casualties upon the enemy they will retreat. Speed was the key, and when Carnage saw how the Myrmidons started to came in enough numbers to take down some of his own riders, Carnage and _Bloodjaws_ roared, ordering the retreat. Turning tail like one, the entire raiding force ran out of the camps, reaching the breach on the walls and jumping outside.

Carnage stood at the rear of the retreating forces, along with his Butcherclaws and a tiny; but the fastest; retreating unit that would keep baiting the Myrmidons into a chase. It was a very good thing that once the Myrmidons are out of clear leadership, they are almost like sheep, they moved in mass, following the inertia of the group; the trick was to get the group moving. Carnage and his squad hit and run all they could, not without some loss along the way, keeping the main mass of Myrmidons on their heels.

Once the Myrmidons reached the ambush point, it was a bloody massacre.

The infantry falls upon them like wolves over a defenseless deer; slamming their flanks and cutting their numbers by a quarter, only in the first charge. Blaze has been clever enough to keep two groups out of the main assault, that two groups surrounded the bulk of the Myrmidons and prevent any of them to escape from the trap.

Once Carnage was with the spellcasters, Carnage let _Bloodjaws_ go and have their fun hunting any strays and started to spawn skeletons and [Night Spears] at the Myrmidons; Icicle was doing a great job with the spellcasters, so Carnage pick up [Hunger] and accompanied by a personal guard of twenty Draugrs, charged alongside the infantry.

The leaderless Myrmidons had no chance in hell and were promptly exterminated to the last one. However, there were still a lot of Myrmidons in the camp that they have just raid, simply because they were stupid, and they were still looking for their weapons; in the hands of the deceased ones; and running around in circles, not sure about where to go. From the air, it would appear as if they have been attacked but they were still there.

Exhausting use of [Earthcraft], buried the thousand Myrmidons that has been killed in the battle; quite the fertile ground for a Grub field later; and made it looks like nothing has happened here. The Kin still kept a good cut of the Myrmidons corpses as their food reserves, as tasteless as they were, meat was meat, and with luck, someone would be able to make something worthy out of that

Once Storm returned from killing the harpies and other Southern Empire troops, Storm congratulated them for their victory and helped to deal with the aftermath and the tedious chores that were inevitable, each time that a battle of thousands took place. Even so, having thirty spellcasters to deal with the chore of the corpses and the personal undead army of Carnage, helped a lot to reduce the time invested in that vital, but ungrateful chores. Storm and Carnage took this chance to have a chat as they worked together in the chores. Earning a lot of respect of the Lizardman, who despite they knew that both are higher variants, they work and fight alongside them like true Kin.

Unconsciously perhaps, but as the Chosen of the Black and the Chosen of the Blue worked together, the rest of the Kin started to see that even if they were usually trying to outdo each other, this collaboration was a very nice thing.

Carnage was a bit peeved that his [Divine´s Bane] skill has not activated during the battle, as it happened against the Arachne priestess in the Cave of Trials. Myrmidons are divine creatures, born by Zeus´s magic; at last in Carnage´s home-world; but here, the skill has not activated, so that means that the Myrmidons are empty of any kind of divine power.

Earning his curiosity, Carnage used his Tier 4 Necromancy spell, [Undead Thrall] and reanimated two of the most fleshy and entire Myrmidons, eager to experiment on them about why they lacked any divine power when they were originally created by Zeus. Although, perhaps there was no Zeus in this planet and the Myrmidons had a more magical origin, instead of a divine one.

Munching on a piece of flesh of the Myrmidons during the evening, Carnage lamented the lack of taste of this things; and knowing that he was going to be studying the Myrmidons all night; he wanted something with a bit more substance.

Guided by a fleeting memory of Magnus the Campione; Carnage put milk, flour, Grub, onions, salt, some species, and chopped Myrmidon meat into a pot and made a solid and aromatic stew, that called the attention of all the nearby Kin. Sighing, Carnage picked up a bigger pot and prepared more Myrmidon fricassee to all the Kin on guard that night, all Kin was amazed that someone could cook Grub and Myrmidon meat, and make it tasty and filling.

The stew soon became a hit in the Fort, and later, one of the basic recipes of the [Lizardman Chefs], in honor of the one that discovered their evolution and created the Grub sandwich and the Myrmidon stew. Carnage has no idea of it, of course, he just wanted to eat something richer than the tasteless and bland Myrmidon meat.

Thanks to [Tireless Body], sleep was more a hobby than a need, so Carnage could spend a lot of extra time tinkering with magic and [Rituals], improving and developing his knowledge, as far and fast as he could. Power was the currency of survival, those who had it, survive, those who hadn't, perish; simply as that, from the lowliest larvae to the Strongest Campione, it was an unavoidable truth. With all the equipment and materials that Fort Orchid had for their spellcasters, it was easy for Carnage to study the reanimated corpses of the Myrmidons. Thanks to his [Green and Black blessing of Tiamat] Carnage could easily determine what kind of poisons and substance would be more effective against this ant-men.

But as the investigation proceed, Carnage started to see something that he did not expect. Everything worked the same way, they reacted the same way, they had the same kind of blood, their skin and flesh were exactly of the same tone, the same color, the same consistency, the same taste, everything was the bloody same.

"Curse you and your brood". Sighed Carnage punching without any force the side of the head of one of the mangled, but still standing corpses of the Myrmidons. "You are like bloody copies of each other...".

A sudden idea flared in the mind of Carnage.

They are exactly like each other, to the minimum detail, that means that all the Myrmidons born from the same batch as this two would be exactly the same. It could be stretching the things a little, but perhaps, all Myrmidons are the same, copies, of each other, except perhaps the male studs that the Queen must keep around.

Curse a brood, curse a bloodline, not as far-fetched as one could think it is; all kind of tales and Sagas were warped around an ancient curse that ills a bloodline or a person. Cursing a Myrmidon would be useless, as they did not reproduce, or at much would curse the brood of that Myrmidon, but, cursing a Queen would mean cursing the entire Colony and any other Colonies that came from her lineage.

Found the Queen, curse her, a killing curse, and her entire progeny will fall like pins.

Smiling widely and starting to laugh in a seriously scary manner; up to a point that the spellcasters around him moved far from his lab, just in case something splashed them, but the laughs soon were cut, when Carnage realized that the same medicine could be applied to the Kin.

Theoretically, Tiamat created them all; If by some miracle like a Campione managed to kill Tiamat and apply the same killing curse, all the Kin would fall. The monster that Carnage has created must be kept under absolute secrecy, only Pandora; proof of how much Carnage trusted her despite they usual squabbling; would know of the exact recipe and enactment of the [Ritual].

Curses and the such, fall under the [Ritual system]. Carnage started to think that the pros of the [God of Magic] sometimes are a bit out of the charts. Power was a good thing, but power without the wisdom or the control to exercise it well was useless. Anyhow, his Kin needed this now, before the Queen reproduces and start another Colony.

The Southern Empire didn't know the kind of weapon that they have unleashed. So far, the Heroes that has taken control of the Myrmidons are loyal to the Southern Empire, but Queens, especially in their larvae stage, can be stolen and smuggled and no one has ever said that they can not be trained to accept non-humans heroes to command them; or in case that only humans could command them, possess, subjugate or enslave a human hero into a good puppet and put him in command of your own force of Myrmidons. The ant-man would start a military uprising in all the countries, as all would need something akin to Myrmidons to oppose the infinite armies of the ant-men.

Opening a new page of his [Grimoire of the Thousand Truths] Carnage started to work on the [Ritual], it would be a variation, overloaded and overkilling variation of a curse that caused the descendants of a specific individual to suffer illness and decay until there was none left. Carnage knew too of a curse that rends someone infertile, but even if one Queen was infertile, the other was not, and could start all this mess and in fifteen years another one would be born and the cycle would begin again.

No, Carnage has to end it now, killing the Queen and her entire brood, to the last one; that was the only way to effectively put a total stop to this attrition war, forcing the Southern Empire to backpedal, back to their domains. Jusar VIII was going to throw a fit for sure, but with the loss of the Myrmidons, he would lack enough troops to keep pushing the borders of the Dragon Empire.

The Cold Sea and the borders with the Asgard Kingdom were closed to him. One because the progeny of Jormungand and the other because the Myrmidons would freeze their assess off in the mountains and would be matched by the draugrs of Asgard.

Peace through the genocide of a species.

Only a Campione would come up with such an Irrational idea, but Carnage has not only the soul of a Campione but the ruthlessness and cold blood of the Kin. Carnage was a terror and the Southern Empire is going to discover it, the worse way, it.

Storm was skeptical at the beginning, when Carnage asked him to call for a long and unusual list of ingredients; some of them unique to the lands of the Swampmist Clan; but when Carnage started to explain what he had in mind, Storm blanched and called for a messenger; not a magical one, this must be delivered in person to the Queen´s Den for approval. Storm knew what kind of horror could be unleashed after the creation of such a ritual, the Kin could be at risk if that was applied to Dragons, who had lived decades and has given birth to hundreds of Kin during that time; but Carnage could, literally, end the war with one [Ritual].

For Nine days, Carnage devoted himself to the completion of the [Ritual]; not really caring of the permission; although it came two days later, along with a long missive of the Dragons on the Queen´s Den about what were; to the slightest detail; the requisites of the [Ritual]. Carnage answered with absolute honestly; as blessed individual by Pandora and Epimeteo, only those deities will know the entire ritual, but as loyal and devotee Kin and Chosen of the Black Head, Carnage transcripted most of the [Ritual] except for two key ingredients and several blank space in the steps of the [Ritual], so only another individual with the blessing of Pandora would fill the blanks.

Carnage baptized the ritual as [Fratricide]; one of the worst sins that you could commit, according to the old Northerner ways that Magnus lived by during his first years of life. Curiously, it was the same thing in the Dragon Empire and the Asgard Kingdom, perhaps that was one of the reasons why they had been allies for centuries; even if they are physically nothing alike, they shared a lot of common values and ethics.

At the end of the ninth day; nine was a powerful number for Carnage, according to his more Asgardian tending rituals and spell castings; Carnage completed the ritual and sealed it into his Grimoire, with blood, poison and a piece of his very soul.

A process that hurt like hell but will guarantee that only Carnage, his descendants and the Pandora´s blessed ones could access to it. Carnage walked outside of the working place that he has all but usurped in the last days; even with [Tireless body], Carnage´s mind was in the verge of the shutdown and politely asking for the nearest Kin to drag him to the infirmary, where he promptly falls unconscious. Good thing Carnage had a sturdy body, otherwise, slamming his muzzle against the cold stone floor of Fort Orchid would have hurt like hell.

Storm was the first person that Carnage saw as soon as he woke up, the [Lizardman King] was patiently waiting at his side, reading the last reports that the scouts and other exploring and watcher troops have sent to the Fort.

"How long have I been out of commission?". Asked Carnage, raising from his laying position and scratching the tip of his tail, massaging the appendage that was still slumbering.

"A day". Smiled Storm seeing his friend recovering from whatever he has done to himself. "Healers told me that you overexert yourself, nine days without eat or sleep was a new record even for you". Chastised Storm with a serious note. "Please don't do something like that again, will you? the poor Kobold that saw you fall like a puppet with its strings cut almost had a heart attack".

"I have it, Storm". Smiled a predator Carnage. "I completed [Fratricide]".

"Very appropriate name, congratulations". All humor evaporated of the voice of Storm. "Surely, you had timed it well".

"Aye? how so?". Asked Carnage, taking a scale out of his tail, it was about to fall off and it would have itched like hell if left unattended.

"We found the underground galleries of the Myrmidons". Sighed Storm. "But it was worse than we expected, they are humongous, they spread like a true ant colony, the scouts and Leaf followed them to the border of this territory and Leaf is convinced that they spread further into all the battlefronts of this war".

"Anyone enters into our lands?". Widened an eye Carnage, so much was expected, fifteen years of constant mining would have created something like that.

"No, Leaf did not sense any gallery into our lands, although, they could be deeper into the earth, far from where he could reach". Shrugged Storm. "The Southern Empire is not making it easy, even if Carrion has managed to practically leave them without supplies, Legate Severa has ordered the Legionaries to feed mounts, some slaved monsters and Myrmidons with the corpses of the fallen Myrmidons and to arm the ant-men with stone spears and no armor".

"Clever one, she is keeping her legionaries well feed and equipped and dealing with the problem of the Myrmidons in one swoop". Smiled Carnage, thundering his neck and getting rid of the sleeping cramps and the such, his mental limit was nine days, good to know.

"We managed to clear out another of their camps before she deployed two Imperial centuries near the camps". Informed Storm. "Now, as soon as we tried to lure the Myrmidons out, they blocked their path and kept them inside the camps, and constantly being reinforced; Leaf discovered that each Myrmidon camp had a tunnel to the galleries inside them".

"Before they are completely exterminated, the Myrmidon collapsed the tunnel so no one could access to the Colony, quite clever for a race that we thought was dumb as a sack of rocks". Deducted Carnage, why no one has ever seen a tunnel in the camps that have been cleared out already.

"Three days ago, a squad of Griffon riders appeared over the farthest Imperial settlement from here; we suspect that the Hero they need was among them". Said Storm, who has been busy these days, conducting hit and run tactics to reduce the number of enemies and to give time to Carnage and Leaf to end the [Ritual] and to map the Myrmidons´ underground galleries.

"A bit too soon than we expected, but with the carnage that is taking place in the other battlefronts, hardly surprising". Commented Carnage, shrugging. "Perhaps they have even picked up a gladiator for their bloody coliseum".

"Then, it was going to be a worthy opponent". Replied back Storm, individually, the Myrmidons and the Legionaries; so far no slaves; are not a big deal, taking strength in numbers and superior tactics. Facing a powerful human with the Job "Hero" was going to be a pleasure.

"So, when is going to be the bloodbath?". Simply asked Carnage, not beating around the bush.

"Tomorrow, most probably". Answered back with the same easiness Storm. "The griffons have already taken flight from the fortress, so by the afternoon they will be there, and by tomorrow morning the Myrmidon would be at our gates".

"What are you going to do?". Carnage took a seated position in the bed and calling for Carravers, took a little barrel of beer and a massive sandwich from his personal storage, he was hungry and thirsty as hell.

"Fight as defensively as we could". Confessed Storm. "They had the numerical advantage in at last four to one, I take that they would have twice the spellcasters than us, and their Hero commander would be surrounded by a griffon riders squad".

"You are screwed". Smiled Carnage with a big bite of his sandwich.

"Aye, that would be the case, but with the wards of the Fort up and running, their spellcasters would be unable to rain spells on us and their siege machines are not enough to break our walls". Pointed out Storm. "Not unless they started to built Trebuchets and bigger catapults, and they would need a lot of time to build those; Carrion and Leaf would be hunting that crews before they could end the construction of those things, our spellcasters can rain destruction on them, Night could chew their sides and Blaze would keep the walls clear of them".

"You are not counting me in that equations". Widened an eye Carnage, curious about what Storm had in mind.

"Because I am going to sacrifice you". Sighed Storm, regret, and guilt clearly patent in his tone.

Carnage widened his eye a bit more, chewing in the sandwich and looking at Storm.

"Don't you have this kind sensation that we had this conversation already?". Smirked Carnage finishing his sandwich and taking a long drink from his barrel of beer. "It is like the chat we had before you asked me to join your Talon".

"Looks like a lifetime ago". Nodded Storm.

"So, you are going to sacrifice me, how are you pretending to do it? pure curiosity more than anything else". Questioned Carnage the choice of words of Storm, curiosity heavily dancing on his words.

"You are going to go solo into the galleries and kill the Queen". Ordered Storm like he could have been asking about what time it was.

"Ah, good to know". Nodded Carnage, not really angry or anything. Carnage could comprehend Storm´s choice and how has he reached that conclusion.

The only one capable of performing [Fratricide] was him; Carnage was the only one that could enact the [Ritual], meaning he must be in front of the Queen and curse her.

Second, the galleries will be, most surely, filled to the brim with bands of Myrmidons running up and down the place, expanding it, foraging food for the Queen, patrolling the place and in general, being the ant-men they were. Trying to carve a path would be suicide without a humongous army.

Third, Carnage has skills that no one had, and chief among them was the unique ability to mimic the stone. Storm still remembered how Carnage can toss fireballs and mimic with the stone when they were nothing but baby Kobolds at the Cave of Trials, and that was a skill that Storm pretended to capitalize.

"You are the only one that can pull it off, Carnage". Sighed Storm, being honest and straightforward, it was the least he could do for his friend. "As much as I hate myself for practically sending you to your death, I still can remember how you can mimic with the stone and your [Necromancy] affinity will give you an instant army, helping you to complete the curse, even in the middle of the Queen´s Chambers".

Carnage laughed. It was the truth after all.

 **End Chapter.**

 **Character Info:**

 **Name:**

Carnage "Carn" Runescales of the Stormrage Clan.

 **Race:**

Lizardman Overlord Level 100

 **Unique Skills:**

-Circle of Usurpation: Much like the Authority, Carn can steal a Skill/Authority/Trait from the body of a defeated enemy, but only if it has been defeated by him.

-Divine´s Bane: As former Devil King, Carn is the bane of any divine spellcaster or divine creature.

-We want grandbabies!- Pandora and Epimeteo, wanted grandbabies to spoil, like it or not, Carn would have a harem.

 **Skills/Traits/Abilities.**

-God of Magic: Carn can learn any kind of magic, thanks to the Blessing of Pandora.

-Oldest soul: Carn had all the memories of Magnus Blacksson, the strongest and Oldest Campione of a bygone era. As magic comes from the soul, he had a godly reserve of magic to fuel his spells.

-Arcane System:

-Earth Magic Tier 4 1- [Echo]/ 2-[Metal sense]/3-[Earthcraft]/4-[Earth Armor]

-Sky Magic Tier 1 1-[Feather fall]

-Body Magic Tier 4 1-[Buff]/2-[Heal]/3-[Regenerate]/4-[Cleanse]

-Mind Magic Tier 1 1-[Zero Mind]

-Abyss Magic Tier 4 1-[Night Spear]/2-[Dark Mantle] /3-[Abyssal walker]/4-[Absorbing Abyss]

-Death magic Tier 1 1-[Death senses]

-Necromancy affinity Tier 4 1/2/3 [Summon Undead Servants Skeletons/Shadow Skeletons/Draugr]/ 4- [Undead Thrall]

-Ritual System:

-Unseen Servant: Carn can summon a Servant that acts as Steward, cleaning crew, cook, and infinite warehouse. He called the androgynous being of pure magic, Carravers It does have the sense of humor of an English butler.

-Algiz: Provides Magic Resistance (Arcane, Divine, and Ritual But NO Kinesis) for nine hours/days/years to a maximum of nine individuals depending on the magic power, components, sacrifices, etc.

-Revenant: Creates a powerful undead servant called Revenant.

-Requiem: Destroys an undead and releases its soul to whatever afterlife it was supposed to go.

-Unblemished Copyist: Creates a perfect replica of a non-magical text, drawing, etc.

-Fratricide: Kills an individual and all its blood progeny, no matter the generation.

 **Usurped Skills/Traits/Abilities/etc:**

 **Skills:**

-Pyrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural fire.

-Electrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural electricity.

-Acidkinesis: Carn can create and manipulate dangerous acids.

-Telepathy: Carnage can communicate via telepathy to creatures that shared a language with him.

 **Blessings:**

-Red Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the red head of Tiamat, Carn domain over fire is way superior to the rest of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Green Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the green head of Tiamat, Carn is the best poisoner of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Black Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the black head of Tiamat, Carn is the best Necromancy user of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

 **Traits:**

-Webbing: Carn can generate natural webbing of three colors steel, gold and red, he can project it from fingertips, mouth, tail tip and ass.

-Spit Poison: Carn can spit poison of varying virulence.

-Poisonproof: Carn is immune to all natural poison and highly resistant against magical poisoning

-Walk Walls: As a spider, Carn can walk barehanded/footed over non-slippery/wet surfaces

-Spiderkin: All Spiders considers Carn one of them, thanks to the effect of the [We want Grandbabies] bless, all female Arachnes found Carn specially Alluring.

-Stone Mimetic: Took the appearance, texture, and smell of the surrounding rocks, but not his hardness.

-Fireproof: Carn is immune to all kind of natural fire and highly resistant against magical fire.

-Blindsight: Perfect, 360º sight at 10 meters, no matter the conditions.

-Stone carving claws: 12 inches twin stingers from his forearms capable of cutting and carving stone with easiness.

-Mimetic: Carn can mimetic with the environment, better than any chameleon would do.

-Corrosive Stench: Carn could generate acid, nauseate and acid sweat.

-Hardened scales: Carn´s scale hardness is massively increased.

-Blood drinker: Carn can absorb the blood of his preys, healing himself from even crippling wounds.

-Elasticity: Carn can make his body as elastic as a pile of goo, without losing any strength or resistance.

-Tireless body: As soon as his magic can keep exhaustion at bay, Carn will not tire.

-Sharp scales: Carnage scales could turn sharp and edgy, wounding anything that touched them without protection

-Might of the predator: Carnage muscles are denser, stronger and more durable than they should, giving him strength, way beyond his size.

-Ghostkin: Ghosts, specters, phantoms and other apparitions, consider Carnage Kin and do not molest him. Thanks to the effect of [We want Grandbabies!], all female apparitions found Carn, specially Alluring.

-Multidexterity: Hands, feet, tail, tentacles, tongue; no matter, Carn can use any appendage as it was his good hand.-Feel No Pain: Carnage could tune out any sensation of pain, numbing his nerves and pushing beyond his limits; suffering the drawback, of course.


	7. Warslayer III

**4-3 Warslayer III**

Infiltrating the Galleries was not a real problem; once one knows where they are.

[Earthcraft] can open a path to them. Despite all their natural talents, Myrmidons are practically magically null; none of the [Systems] seems to work for them. No spellcasters, scarce [Kinesis], no [Rituals], not even [Divine Domains], and the absence of the latter was the one that puzzled the most Carnage.

Myrmidons of Carnage´s homeworld were closely tied to the myths and legends of the Greek myths. None of the underground galleries of the Myrmidons had any kind of magical residue in them, they are perfectly natural. Carnage respected the hard work and had to admit that only undead would be even more hard workers than this Myrmidons.

[Earthcraft] spell brought Carnage an entrance into the burrowed galleries and as soon as Carnage was inside, Carnage activated two of his traits; [Walk Walls] and [Mimetic]; and started to crawl all over the galleries, trying to make head or tails to where to go. [Echo] was showing a complex web of tunnels, so Carnage tossed a mental coin and started to go deeper into the Colony. With luck, the Queen´s Chamber will be the biggest and lowest of the inner chambers of this cave network.

Carnage used [Echo] to always kept a reference with the outside; Fort Orchid was the main point of his mental map, with the destroyed Myrmidon Camp as an entrance of the Colony. The rest was to navigate through the Colony, trying to found some kind of indications or a signal that could serve him as a method to determine how the reach the Queen.

Carnage was in a bit of a hurry after all; Storm and the rest could only endure the assault for a while, in the end, the constant waves of the Southern Empire will drown them. Enough Kin already died in this bloody war to lost more good Kin to the ambitions of a Demigod cretin.

[Mind Zero], [Mimetic], [Elasticity], [Walk Walls], [Buff], [Blindsight], [Tireless Body], [Multidexterity] and [Echo] were activated almost constantly, so Carnage could crawl at surprisingly high speed over the cells of the galleries, practically invisible to the eye and minds of the Myrmidons and cover a lot of terrains, going deeper into the Colony. For Carnage´s annoyance, he went so deep into the enemy lines, that his [Echo] could no longer maintain Fort Orchid and the destroyed Camp as points to help him navigate the place.

One thing that surprised him although, was the presence of luminescent lamps all over the galleries. Myrmidons did not possess exceptional night vision, they can see pretty well in the darkness but do not have vision in complete Darkness; somehow, they have managed to set, some kind of live lamps that served as lights in the otherwise, complete dark galleries of their Colony.

Slipping past any group of Myrmidons in his way; Carnage lookout for anything unusual, something that could tell him that he was in the right path. So far, nothing has happened that could have called his attention. Hours like this were starting to nag in his mind, and his [Echo] was only revealing kilometers upon kilometers of galleries, caves, and other underground chambers. Out of curiosity and in order to alleviate his boredom, Carnage moved into one of the chambers, immensely surprised for what he found there.

In the surface, the vast majority of the Myrmidons were poorly equipped, their armors were crude leather or even common linen, more as clothes than any real armor, with iron swords or even stone weapons. However, that was not the case down there.

There was a big chamber, easily the size of a barn, filled to the brim with crates, whose insides contained good quality steel weapons and iron and brass breastplates. This was a step below the common legionary equipment; that was of steel mostly, with stronger alloys the higher you go in the chain of command; but more than enough to increase enormously the fighting capabilities of the Myrmidons.

Why was all this here? why has it not been dragged to the surface?. Perhaps was because the number of Myrmidons, far outweigh the numbers of weapons and armors here, but at last, with all this, the Southern Empire could have equipped several hundred Myrmidons into something resembling an army, that was better than let them die uselessly in massive frontal charges.

Shrugging and a bit disappointed in the Southern Empire cheapness with their own troops, Carnage called Carravers and proceed to loot the best of what was stored in there. Even if Carnage never use any of this, who knows if in the future Carnage will command troops and they need weapons and armors; better to be safe than sorry, and thanks to his [Unseen Servant], Carnage can store almost infinite amounts of items, so it was not precisely a chore.

Worst case scenario; a lot of steel, brass, leather, and cloth to meld and cut, to make something useful out of it.

Now that Carnage thought about it; between the hours that he has been traveling, Carnage took sit over one of the empty crates and chomped on a piece of meat and a flask of water; at this point, Carnage must be way far from his original Battlefront. If his [Echo] can no longer reach Fort Orchid, then that means that he must have crossed a huge distance; without a way to test the pass of time, it was difficult to calculate how much time has he crawled down the ant hole.

This little haul apart, there was nothing down there, except Myrmidons and stones. Too many Myrmidons to count actually; has the Southern Empire left them alone?, without any control?, that sounds a bit foolish, so there must be something that Carnage has missed.

Finishing his meal, Carnage sighed, activated all the traits and spells that have made him practically invisible so far and crawled out of the chamber; leaving behind nothing but empty craters and an empty flask. The Myrmidons are not the best trackers in the world and somehow, Carnage suspected that they are going to just keep filling the chamber again, without even a thought about how could it been emptied before.

Counting fifteen chambers bellow him, Carnage played a mental game in order to decide what would be the next one to be explored and with luck, found something remotely useful.

Still, Carnage has to admit that the Myrmidons has greatly surprised him with their capabilities to work the stone and the earth. If they are the ones that have built such a complex underground Colony and could navigate through it, the Myrmidons are way more than the dumb cannon-fodder that they appeared to be on the surface.

Being that the case, why has not the [Circle of Usurpation] grant Carnage any power?, even if it was the pain resistance of these ant-men, it would be greatly appreciated, enduring pain was a necessity in his world but doesn't mean Carnage liked it at all.

Perhaps there were varieties of Myrmidons, like workers, soldiers and what´s not, unless they are not born from the Queen; something that Carnage seriously doubted, but could happen. Still, the majority of the Southern Empire Myrmidon Legions would suffer a crippling blow, as soon as the Queen has been dealt with.

Always with the guard up; there is no way to know when something was going to detect him, be it by magic or any other method; Carnage slipped into a big pathway in the middle of two big chambers, below him, a procession of Myrmidons were storing more and more, food?. Packed grass, wheat and barley with dried meat, that was food for them?. Well, they can eat anything so Carnage supposed that for them everything edible was good.

Carnage´s Kin had similar thoughts about meat and Grub before he taught them the miracles of cuisine. Of course, the Dens of the Clans were not precisely the more adequate place for a restaurant or an entertainment business to bloom; they are training and breeding grounds to create the Dragon Empire warriors and defenders. Surely in the merchant towns, where there will be more races coming and going, the things would surely be different.

Carnage patiently waited in the roof of the chamber, seeing the groups of Myrmidons come and go, he just needed to catch one of them alone, kill him without leaving any physical evidence, reanimate him and order the corpse to carry a big piece of food to the Queen.

Little tidbit about the [Undead Thrall], it lacked the independence and initiative of a [Revenant], either the brute power of the higher form of undead, but what they did not lack, was the memories of their past, even if it was little more than a movie without any attachment to it. Supposedly, an [Undead Thrall] could be liberated and either it dies definitely or started to walk the path to higher branches of the Undead evolutions, like [Undead Corpse Walker] or [Ghoul], it was all a matter of luck and the individual preference.

Truth to be told, it was a plan that was born from pure boredom and a bit of desperation to get the thing done already. Carnage couldn't know how much time has he been in this galleries, having to travel almost by sheer luck through the dammed place. As calm and methodical as Carnage could be with the things he enjoyed or liked; like [Rituals] and cooking; Carnage was a Campione at the soul, and those are not known for their patience, except for a few notable exceptions.

Waiting like a spider for a juicy fly; Carnage keep himself glued to the ceiling, observing the coming and goes of the Myrmidons. They were all the same, except one that carried some ragged clothes, all brown, and look a bit tinier than the ones that he fought in the surface; the great majority of them carried the red and gold colors of the Southern Empire, be it in armors of clothes; but they were relentlessly keeping piling the "food".

Carnage thought about how they are piling, what could be considered cattle fodder, however, if his suppositions about a new Queen being born, it was not all that surprising. A new colony would need a lot of food for their new Queen and the first generation of new Myrmidons.

The Southern Empire has unleashed a beast that they can not control. Populace control was a must in big countries, magic systems or not; resources are limited, they must be managed with a cold head and a steady hand, otherwise they will run low and that would bring disaster. Myrmidons are like a Marabunta, they are infinite and ate everything that comes their way, they ate and grow, eat and grow, rinse and repeat. Oh, they also fight for any; human in this planet; Hero that commands them.

Finally, Carnage´s patience grew fruits and one of the Myrmidons had to walk a bit deeper into the chambers, carrying a big piece of packed grass. Carnage smiled and with followed him deeper into the Chambers, crawling down the ceiling, so he could be facing his face and not the top of his head. A single, precise, application of [Spit poison] and the nastiest poison that Carnage´s [Green Blessing of Tiamat] could concoct, hit the Myrmidon in the face; entering his nostrils, compound eyes, short antennae, and open mouth.

The ant-man fall instantaneously, dead as a log. Crawling at the side of the corpse, Carnage touched him and channeled the Tier 4 spell of his [Necromancy] branch, [Undead Thrall], making the corpse stand up again as if nothing has happened. Being so fresh and with the usual, empty expression of the Myrmidons, he didn't look dead at all. Bloody perfect in Carnage´s opinion.

Quickly ordering him in whispers so any other Myrmidon could not notice that something was wrong, Carnage ordered the corpse his new instructions. The corpse nodded once and raising a big package of dried wheat or something along those lines, set route into the galleries outside, being followed by an eager Carnage, who at last, saw the end of all this bloody mess.

Much to the horror of Carnage, the Myrmidon keep walking for what it looks like hours, going up and down the galleries and backtracking a lot of the terrain that Carnage has covered during his wanderings in the gallery.

Really, he really should have designed some kind of tracking [Ritual] but without any piece of the Queen, it would only point him to the nearest Myrmidon. Up and down they went through the galleries, now Carnage was sure that he has way past the borders of the Cold Sea and has entered into the Southern Empire land; deep into the enemy lines. That or the bloody Colony is so deep underground that Carnage was going to scratch magma soon.

But patience and diligence carried their own rewards and finally, in the corners of the [Echo] of Carnage, the appearance of a different chamber appeared. It was crafted as a spiral that went up to a big chamber, there was a lot on that chamber and judging from the size of the chamber it was easily as big as Fort Orchid.

Either the Queen was the size of a building; something not entirely impossible; or the chambers contained more than just the Queen and the youngest Larvae. After all this time, Carnage was feeling his jaws turning into a wide smile, his prey, at last, was at the reach of his claws. Carnage was going to exterminate everybody in that chamber for the annoyance that has been wandering in this bloody galleries for Pandora knows how long.

Already salivating, eager for the incoming battle, Carnage followed his thrall to the main entrance of the bottom of the spiral and found himself observing the first different Myrmidons that Carnage has ever found. The "workers" from before were basically thinner than the ones that Carnage knew, however this two new ones, were different. Taller, bulkier, equipped with steel cuirass, good quality spears, round steel shields and fine red and gold clothes with the emblem of the Southern Empire on them. Their heads had a more Ant like proportions, almost like they wore a helmet made to resemble the shape of an ant but with two open mandibles that crackled when Carnage´s thrall get close to them.

And then was when everything went pear-shaped, as soon as the two well-armed Myrmidon variants, screeched?, something along those lines; then they emitted a nasty clicking sound next, with their chitinous mandibles; without losing a second, they speared the body of Carnage´s undead, ripping his head and a good chunk of his torso with their powerful stabs. Carnage whistled in his mind, they are surely strong to pull out such a stunt with a spear, but right when Carnage was about to attack, he felt a sudden and violent power surge went through his body.

[Divine´s Bane] activated as soon as they attacked his undead thrall, so this Myrmidons did have some divine influence in them. That has only made them, even a better haul.

Carnage fall from the ceiling, stabbing the chest of the left one with his stingers, with enough force to pulverize his insides, meanwhile, the tip of his tail webbed the right Myrmidon and electrocuted him, as Carnage channeled his [Electrokinesis] through the webbing, cooking the Myrmidon alive inside the strong web cocoon. His [Blindsight] told him that there were a lot more incoming, and Carnage snarled in aggressive joy.

This was going to be so much fun.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Praetorian Myrmidon: Telepathy skill Usurped]._ Ah, that explains why the undead has not been able to pass through the guards.

They had spoken to him telepathically and the thrall could not respond as it was an undead, and by so, practically with zero brain activity. Well, it was a nice skill to have. Pity that Carnage has not gained anything more from them, but considering how fast have they died, perhaps even the Praetorians were not as much as a challenge.

Channeling a lot of power into an [Earthcraft] spell and summoning dozens of draugrs at the same time, Carnage blocked the entrance of the spiral and dragging [Hunger] out of his personal storage, Carnage prepared to face the incoming horde of defenders of the most important chamber of the Colony. Carnage was not wrong, and soon he saw dozens of Praetorians; all of them surprisingly well equipped, similar to high officers of the Southern Empire; that rushed down the spiral path to confront the charging draugr.

Jumping into the fray alongside his draugr, Carnage swung [Hunger] in a wide arc, [Might of the Predator] and [Buff] improving his strength immensely, and saw how his blade glowed, cutting a couple of the Myrmidon variants by the waist, sending their disemboweled bodies to the walls. Those mangled corpses clashed against the wall with a loud splatter that made Carnage smile.

But Carnage´s arrogance cost him, as a Myrmidon managed to thrust with his spear and actually pierce the scales of his shoulder. Hissing in pain, Carnage twirled [Hunger] and stab the head of the Praetorian with the pickaxe blade on the back of the weapon´s head, dragging the corpse to the ground after the impact.

Calling more draugrs and [Shadow Skeletons], the draugrs formed a shield wall, blocking the attacks of the Praetorians, who had their own shield wall and were trying to push the draugr down.

Taking the spear out of his shoulder with a hiss, Carnage took the pickaxe blade of [Hunger] out of the head of the Myrmidon and used [Blood Drinker] to dry the corpse and heal the wound that the spear has inflicted.

The spear was of amazing quality if it was capable of piercing his scales; observing the sharp tip of the weapon, Carnage realized that it was not common steel but an alloy of some kind. Storing the weapon within Carravers.

Carnage stomped his first on the ground, provoking cracks in the floor with [Earthcraft], breaking the formation of the Praetorians. As soon as the Praetorian Myrmidons lose a foot, the draugr capitalize the opportunity and jump at them with all they have, stabbing, crushing and piercing the armored bodies of the Praetorian Myrmidons with their weapons.

Carnage took good note that these Myrmidons were stronger than the base ones that he has fought before, and they need at last three draugr to took one of them down. Fortunately, Carnage could keep up with the summoning and continuously call more reinforcements to his undead private army. Carnage joined the battle and [Hunger] started to sing in joy again. The glow of the runes of the weapon glows brighter as soon as they cut and rend the flesh of the enemies of its holder.

Carnage parried the attack of a Praetorian, twirled the handle of the ax and slammed the bottom onto the ant-man´s face, effectively sinking it backward, turning his face and brain into a paste. Thanks to [Might of the Predator], [Elasticity] and [Multidexterity], Carnage could pull some slick moves, breaking all rules about anatomy and how to handle a weapon. Carnage´s muscle memory still had the hard-earned lesson of Fang and the skills of Magnus the Campione, so even without that skills breaking any possible theory about from where and how was he going to attack, Carnage was still one of the best fighters there was in the Dragon Empire. Higher evolution and true masters of the weapons, aside.

Grabbing his axe with one hand, Carnage swung it from right to left, beheading a Praetorian that has nicked the scales of his torso with a sharp sword and with his tail, he webbed another, leaving him unable to defend of the axes of his draugr that did not lost a second in butchering him to pieces.

Calling for his [Acidkinesis], Carnage mixed it with his [Spit poison] and taking cover behind half a dozen draugrs with shields, Carnage inhaled deeply and exhaled a dense could of some green like mist. Forcing his lungs to the max; ignoring the pain; Carnage kept dousing the part of the spiral where they were fighting, with as much poisonous mist as he could. As if Carnage would have thrown a smoke grenade, the first line of the Praetorian Myrmidons started to cough and scratch their throats in clacking desperation of mandibles.

Kneeling and coughing from his own effort, Carnage whizzed a little and give himself a second to recover from the little ordeal. The draugrs and the stronger summoned skeletons took a defensive position around him, forming a shield wall and thanks to the fact that they were undead, they did care little about the lethal venom, misting the air.

Carnage has to admit that he really should think twice before pulling tricks like this, they are effective but his lungs were on fire now. With a huff and a [Heal] spell, [Body Magic] Tier 2 spell; he recovered, just in time, to see one of the draugrs fly over his head, with its shield and chest pierced by a big arrow.

At the other side of the shield wall; outside of the killing mist; a lot of Praetorian Myrmidons has set an archer lining, shooting some kind of reinforced bows at the draugr; there must be some kind of extra trick in that bows, otherwise the sturdy shields of the draugr should have been enough to block the projectiles of any common arrow.

But leaving those thoughts for a later date, Carnage summoned more reinforcements and made them charge ahead, even if the arrows could take down several of them in one go, there will always be more behind. Much to the surprise of Carnage, the arrows were capable of puncturing two draugrs or crash the chests of three skeletons in one go.

Carnage raised and twirled his ax over his head, creating a spinning vortex of fire and lightning, with a brutal swing downward he tossed a wave of flames and electricity at the archers, vaporizing a chunk of his own troops in the assault, but frying the arrows and hitting the lines of archers with a frizzling sound and the clacking and fizzing of their flesh being burned over their screeching.

Recomposing more undead and casting [Buff] over them; especially the front line of shielded draugrs, that would have to endure whatever comes their way; Carnage started to practice his [Kinesis] skill a bit and then started to rain [Night Spears] at the enemies that come their way.

[Abyss Magic] really strong point was not its damage potential, but the unique capability of disrupting, absorbing or directly devouring other [Arcane system] spells and powers; even [Divine Dominions] are susceptible to the power of the [Abyss Magic], that was why Carnage specialized a lot in it.

It was the perfect [Arcane system] countermeasure. Maybe the Myrmidons lacked any semblance of magic, but this Praetorian has activated his [Divine´s Bane] so they had a sliver of divine power on them; [Abyss magic] was a must then, in order to broke whatever reinforcements they could have on themselves.

Meanwhile, Carravers was looting all the corpses left behind once the draugr shield wall push forward; pushing the Praetorian that slammed against them and kept the second line and Carnage safe from those incredible strong arrows. The servant was storing everything it could find, weapons, armor, even entire corpses, as Carnage would never know when he could need an alchemical ingredient or food for his _Bloodjaws_ or even himself. The Myrmidon fricassee was actually delicious.

Never waste anything, especially in a magical world like this, everything has a potential use; even more so when [Rituals] could be created with almost anything, in the adequate combination.

Praetorians were a tough bunch, so much, Carnage will concede to them. Using the draugr in front of him as a shield, Carnage kept attacking the incoming Praetorian with his battleax, as he had longer reach and could hit from the sides and superior part of the shield, cutting and stabbing with the blade and spear-like top of his weapon.

It was quite the blast from the past, when he was another warrior, trying to make a living in the Northern parts of old Europe. Slow, but steady, the shield wall keep pushing the Praetorian Myrmidons, unfortunately, the constant rain of arrows was piercing even the reinforced shields, so Carnage changed tactics and sent a wave of Shadow Skeletons as a diversion as the shield wall opened and he led a charge with a lot of draugrs with heavy weapons.

Reinforcing himself with [Hardened Scales], [Sharp Scales] and [Corrosive Stench], Carnage spearheaded the charge, burying [Hunger] in the body of the closest Praetorian and rushing into their lines, by the inertia of the charge.

Once in the middle of the battle, Carnage started to swing his battleax back and forth, chopping limbs and butchering the flesh of anything that came his way. Against the enhanced blade of [Hunger], they could be made of tissue paper. Unless they are heavily enhanced or made of exceptional alloys, the kind of alloys that forge legendary weapons like Orichalcum, Adamantite, and such materials.

Mixing his weapon strikes with magic and [Kinesis], Carnage prevented the Myrmidons to react in time to whatever comes their way. Just now, Carnage was joining his undead warriors into a powerful phalanx, slowly but steadily climbing the spiral, facing an army of Praetorian in their way. In any other occasion, Carnage would have admired the dedication, discipline, and endurance of these variants of Myrmidons; but right now, they were nothing but a bloody annoyance.

Carnage had a job to do, and so far, all have been nothing but complications, delays, and problems; for the first time since he entered in the Colony, Carnage was having a great time and he pretended to enjoy it to the fullest.

However, something nagged at the edge of his mind. Carnage and his undead troops have been cutting a path into the spiral, with each step to the peak, Carnage noted that the stonework and polishing of the crude earth and stone walls were better, the closer they get to the top.

Carnage supposed that it was something akin to giving the best they could for their Queen, and the rest of the Colony had more than enough with the solid, but a crude construction of the rest of the galleries, pathways, and halls.

Corpse after corpse; Carnage reanimated a pair of them, just to have some variety in his troops and to see if the armors and weapons of the Praetorian could do well against well crafted but common weapons; Carnage climbed to the main chamber of the Queen.

Supposedly, this was the home of the Queen of the Myrmidons, and Carnage was eager to see if she was like he remembered from his past. Monstrous females the size of a building, waist down being ant-like. Not the most charming sight, but they were a dangerous bunch, as it has been demonstrated in the fifteen years that they had been at war with the Dragon Empire with just one Queen.

The Chamber was spacious but completely different from what Carnage was expecting.

It was crafted like a dome of about a hundred and a half meters of diameter, all the walls were polished and clean, a lot of it covered with red and wall tapestry of the Southern Empire, showing the symbols of Jusar VIII; a Legionary with the heads of a Hydra behind; the floor was covered in soft white stone, not marble but something akin to it.

Surrounding a humongous bed, a lot of; even bulkier and strongly armed; Myrmidon Praetorians were holding food packages of all kind, from slabs of meat to packs of comprised wheat and cattle-food. The bed was crafted in wood and precious metals; four, wooden, dragon-like heads, formed the main four posts of the bed, where the Queen was resting, her back against a puffy, silk pillow, as she keeps eating mechanically, all the food that was delivered to her.

There was little decoration, in the sense that there was no lavishing furniture, no silks, no pictures or statues, nothing extravagant. Just the most comfortable bed they could muster for their queen, solid floor and walls to prevent structural problems in the chamber and the banners of their masters.

That was all.

Pragmatic but neat at the same time. Carnage like the simplicity, yet elegance of the room, however, the Queen made him curse in loud voice, realizing that she was not what Carnage was expecting.

The Queen of the Colony was barely a teenager, a slim, crying, blonde girl of azure eyes; completely devoid of life; that munched with her teeth anything that comes her way. She was laying in the bed, a blanket covering from under her skinny breast down, as she laid over the pillow on her back. Dressed with a red, thick, pajama, she had short hair, not even reaching her shoulders, cut in a pixie cut style.

Her complexion was slim and skinny, despite the fact that she was eating enough food to feed a country. In any other circumstance, Carnage would judge the girl to be in the cute side of the spectrum, but her almost ill look body, her eyes and the lack of anything resembling an emotion, cut short any possible positive description of her.

The Praetorians, toss the food to the ground and took their weapons, charging against Carnage and his undead troops, ready to defend their Queen. This time, Carnage realized that these Myrmidons are even different than the Praetorian when they took out their weapons they took down a draugr in one single strike, crushing the shields and the bodies under them with brute force.

Changing of tactics, Carnage called forth more undeads, using a wolf against bears strategy, constantly harassing the Praetorian, slowly bleeding them to death, or waiting for the killer strike. It was not easy, as they could destroy draugrs by the dozen before even one of them could be taken down for good.

Carnage fought one of them personally and grunted under the bizarre strength that these bastards had, even Carnage´s reinforced scales cracked under the pressure of a sword; a steel, Southern Empire classic; sword. If it wasn't for his magical reinforcements, that strike should have cut Carnage from shoulder to waist. Taking the pain, and using it as a source of power, Carnage battled the Praetorian, giving as much as he was receiving, happy to have a challenge after how easy has been killing the common Myrmidons.

[Hunger] screeched each time the weapons clashed, but Carnage has a clear advantage, his Battleaxe was perfectly fine, however, the sword of the Myrmidon was nicked and almost cracked of all the deep cuts and nicks that [Hunger] has made onto its edge. It must be said that these steel swords are the sturdiest bunch that Carnage has seen so far in the Southern Empire forces.

Alas, Carnage has only fought Myrmidons, so he was not one to judge; surely high trained Centuries, Tribunes and Legates had equipment as good as himself, proving that they were the challenge, Carnage always thought they would be.

But this stronger breed of Praetorian was not a bad thing; in fact, they were managing to overpower his undead troops, and even hurt and wound him!. Exultant like he has not been in a long time, Carnage cut all brakes and with an impossible feint; thanks to his [Elasticity], he bends under the swing of the Praetorian and capitalizing the extra inertia, buried the blade of [Hunger] in the head of the Myrmidon, splitting his entire body in half, and sending the bloody chunks in all directions.

Unfortunately, [Hunger] ended handle-deep into the white tiled floor of Queen´s Chambers, and before Carnage could recover it, he was pushed back; scales broke and flesh bleeding, by a brutal thrust of another Praetorian.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Myrmidon Royal Guard: Feel No Pain trait Usurped]_. Royal Guards, Carnage widened an eye, massaging his sore chest muscles and taking out several broken scales of the powerful strike.

But soon, his new trait took control and reduce any ache to a fledgling sensation, barely noticeable in the corner of his mind. Carnage, realized the strength of this monsters, they can push themselves to the limit, and until they broke, they will continue to be a bloody nightmare.

Grumbling, Carnage healed himself quickly, and taking his twin stingers out, he charged back to the fray; there were a hundred of these strong bastards and the rest of the Colony will be digging like madmen to get into the chamber and save their Queen. Telepathy is really a wonderful skill, especially for a hive-like, race like the Myrmidons, no possibility for infiltration, unless you are capable to telepathically deceive them.

Jumping over one of the Royal Guards, Carnage landed with his twin stingers deep into the shoulders of the Myrmidon, who has done all it could to parry the strikes, but Carnage´s has all the inertia of the jump and has slammed over him with [Buff] magic and [Might of the Predator] empowering his strikes.

The Royal Guard may be capable of resist pain, but not noticing the cut, doesn't mean that the damage was not there. Anchored like that over the chest of the Royal Guard, Carnage opened his jaw and breathed a thick cloud of the most virulent poison he could muster. Coughing, the Royal Guard stabbed the side of Carnage, stabbing deeply with the strength of desperation, but [Blood Drinker] could supply Carnage with the needed healing, as he had his stingers deep into the flesh of the Royal Guard.

Recovering position with an impossible set of movements; [Elasticity] be blessed; Carnage looked over the deep stab on his side; already healing; and charge to face the next Royal Guard, who has learned from the previous one and was waiting for him, keeping him at bay with powerful stabs and swings of his sword. Carnage had only parried once with the stingers of his left arm, to sense how the dense bone was cracked and broken, useless until he could heal the damages.

Sweeping with his tail, the legs of the Royal Guard that has broken his stingers, Carnage stabbed his chest with the right forearm stingers and electrocuted him from the inside, channeling as much electricity as he could through the bone weapons and into the Royal Guard. Carnage realized too late, that he should have used fire, he was [Fireproof], not electric proof, the backlash of the discharge, surely fried the Myrmidon, but left his right stingers charred and cracking for the energy burst that they could not process.

Taking the stingers inside again, and cursing his own carelessness, Carnage called for more reinforcements for his undead troops and used some of the fallen Royal guards for [Undead Thralls], they were surprisingly expensive in terms of magical powers, forcing Carnage to channel a lot more power than the usual into them. They were worth it, as they joined the ranks of the draugr and started to turn around the tides of battle, equaling the Royal Guards strength and topping It with their undead endurance.

Moving to the entrance of the Queen´s Chamber, or better said, to the top of the ascending spiral, Carnage increased the difficulties to any Myrmidon to came here, by using [Earthcraft] to plug a lot of the spiral with solid walls of stone. That would be enough to deal with possible reinforcements, at least, until he has dealt with the Queen. Carnage has lost a lot of time, cleaving a path into the chambers, and dealing with the Royal Guards. Carnage has to start making the preparations of [Fratricide].

Ordering the undead troops to clean a perimeter along the Queen´s bed and ordering Carravers to loot anything of value and bring him the components of the [Ritual], Carnage helped the effort of clearing the way to the Queen with a mix of [Pyrokinesis] and [Abyss Magic]. Discovering the process, that the Royal Guards were curiously resistant to magic, but relatively weak to the flames.

The fire was a well know and documented weakness of the Myrmidons, but Carnage supposed that the Royal Guard would be more resistant than the common breed. Carnage was wrong, although, the magic resistance was a new twist.

Finally, Carnage was standing at the side of the Queen and could see her close and personally. As he saw, the moment he entered the chamber, Carnage realized how really young the Queen was.

She was barely a teenager, a little, skinny and slim girl, of empty azure eyes and short blond hair. She didn't even look at Carnage, just stared, devoid of any emotion, into the battle in front of her. Once the Royal Guard stop attending her, feeding her and keeping her clean; not only a scrump despite the feast she was having; she stopped chewing and just stare at the infinite.

Guided by curiosity, again, Carnage picked up the blanket and look under it; suspicious that perhaps he was too late and the Southern Empire has already taken the next Queen and her first batch of males. It would be a pity, Carnage wanted to be sure that the Myrmidons are exterminated to the last, and then they could experiment all they want to see where they come from.

Thanks to the activation of [Divine´s Bane], Carnage knew that they had divine origin, but beyond that, it was blank. Carnage was hoping, that having a chat with the Queen would answer some questions, but right now, it was not the case. The Queen was like a zombie, she just pops up Myrmidons and that´s it.

Carnage retired the blanket and his eyes widened.

From where the waist of the girl should be, there was only pulsating flesh, white, pasty like, flesh that waved and was crisscrossed with black veins. Like an iceberg, this girl was just the tip of a massive, Myrmidon breeding flesh factory.

The spiral, the spiral contained the weak, egg making organs of the Queen. Clever, Carnage could grant them that, no one would suspect that they had the objective at the other side of the wall, and the heavy presence of Myrmidons was more than excused with the presence of the Queen in the upper chamber.

Under the Spiral; checking it out with [Echo], Carnage saw another massive chamber, bigger than the chamber of the Queen, surely the place where the eggs and larvae are attended until they are full-fledged Myrmidons. But the cost of growing so fast has taken its tool in the little girl and has turned her into little more than a zombie. Has she been like this for fifteen years? she should have grown up, unless she was a baby then, and has passed her childhood and teenage years like this.

Disgusted, as Carnage may be a monster but there were limits for everything; Carnage tried to make contact with the mind of the Queen; using his new usurped [Telepathy].

For almost a minute, Carnage sat at the side of the Queen, with a claw posed over the head of the Queen and with Carnage´s expressions passing through a lot of changes in that short time. Taking the hand from the head of the Queen, Carnage swore loudly and with poison in his tone, swearing by all that was sacred that the Southern Empire would burn, that the Dynasty of Jusar would end in flames, purged from the world like the plague they are.

Furious and disgusted, Carnage ordered his troops to clean the place, there was a lot of work to do, but before that Carnage called for a sharp dagger from Carravers. A dagger that he has used for all kind of [Rituals], a piece of metal that was not only sharp but blessed by priests of Tiamat and had several runes that improved its value as [Ritual] tool.

Carefully touching the flesh of the Queen under the blanket, Carnage looked for a specific protuberance, something that the broken mind of the Queen has shown him.

As the undead worked on the drawings for [Fratricide] along Carravers, Carnage founded the bundle of veins and nerves that he was looking for, and with extreme precaution and carefulness, put the sharp blade to work, cutting the flesh like it was butter and drawing a long line, spilling liters of the black and thick; but surprisingly odorless; blood of the Queen. Once the incision was big enough, Carnage put his hands into the edges of the cut and stretched it wide.

The Queen didn't even flinch, after what Carnage has seen in her memories, it was hardly a surprise, the absence of emotions and desires in the little girl. Because she was a girl, a small child trapped into a nightmare.

The cretins of the Southern Empire put this curse into a little girl, she has not even passed her fifth year in this world and this horrid destiny was imposed on her. Carnage had the memories of Magnus the Campione, and knew of even worst things being done in the past, however, Magnus never condoned such blasphemies, one thing was to butcher the enemy on the battlefield, but impose such an abomination into a child that has not yet begun to live his life, was something that enraged Carnage.

Inserting his claws into the flesh wound, Carnage tried to get what he has seen in the memories of the Queen, the only thing that she has kept from the ones that forced her to be like this, a little secret, horrid as it was, an impossibility that only an irrational thing like magic could have crafted.

The Queen was pregnant, Carnage has nailed it. But what none of them now, was the fact that she was pregnant as a human too.

The Southern Empire has taken the second Queen already, and the first batch of males from her, but all of them were still in cocoons; once the Queen will be out and the male saw that she was not only infertile but neither their real Queen, they will kill her. It was a cruel destiny, something that made the original Queen despise herself up to the point that she was little more than a Myrmidon making factory. All to keep the third; gestated like a human and not like a larva; Queen, one that will have the freedom of will and soul that has been denied to the original Queen.

Carnage was trying to extract that baby out of her, the real Queen. Once she was out of her mother's womb, Carnage could finish the [Fratricide] and put an end to the Myrmidons that should have not been born this way, not the way that Jusar VIII has created the first Colony, and of course, not doing to this little girl, what Jusar has done.

The Myrmidons are a dangerous race, essentially they are humanoid ants, ants consume a humongous amount of food, humanoid ants, consume even bigger humongous amounts of food. Their population has to be strictly controlled, but the Southern Empire lacked such wisdom and believed that they will dispose of them when they are not useful.

As the Queen has demonstrated with her last act of rebellion, they are not in as much in control as they would like to be.

With a nauseating squelch, the baby was out of the torn womb of her mother, as Carnage claws had to rip the placenta to reach for the little ant/human hybrid inside. Truth to be told, the little thing, was way more developed that Carnage would have thought.

She had the same blond hair of her mother, from the waist up, she was a perfectly healthy human baby; antennae and compound eyes apart; but form the waist down, she was like an ant. She was quite big for being a newborn. Dragging the baby out, and chewing the umbilical cord in one single and powerful bit of his jaws, Carnage used his tail to keep the baby coiled and warm as he needed his hands to carve some extra, dark and evil, runes into the flesh of her mother.

Once the bloody etching was done, Carnage, with the baby happily snoring on his tail; as the appendage could rock her left and right like a cradle and keep her warm; jumped down from the bed and walked to the draugrs and undead thralls, that has finished the preparations of [Fratricide] and to Carravers, who was lazily floating around with its empty expression always the same.

Observing the Royal Guards undead thralls, he ordered the biggest and sturdiest of them to give a step ahead.

Carnage disemboweled the corpse, ripping internal organs and using [Acidkinesis] to liquify as much of the useless cavities as he needed to made space to the Queen´s baby. At the end of his job, the Royal Guard was a walking harness that would keep the baby safe and protected inside his warm insides and strong rib cage. Closing the flesh with [Necromancy] and not a few stitches, Carnage managed to create a temporary artificial womb, that would keep the sleeping baby safe.

"Carravers, loot this place, take the "cradle" with you". Pointed out to the altered Royal Guard. "And made sure that the baby inside it, is kept safe and sane, keep her in a stasis estate, much like the food and other ingredients that had expiration rate".

"Now, I am a nurse, sir?". As usual, the sass on the voice of the magical servant was evident, but when it noticed the aura of power and anger that was irradiating from his master, it keep its mouth shut and obeyed hastily.

Existence was always better than non-existence, and right now, Carravers´s master was in one of those moods where he could have vaporized it to the non-existence for crossing the line.

Carnage recovered [Hunger] from the floor, the weapon has been there since he split a Royal Guard in two with it. Setting the weapon over his shoulders, he walked back to the bed of the Queen, and climbing over the edge, he stood, on his feet, over the still impassive Queen.

Patiently waiting for Carravers to clean the space, Carnage chanted in an obscure language. It was part of the ritual. Carnage kept chanting, calling the names of creatures that prowled the night and accursed beings, that has been cursed by mortals and immortals alike, names that no one should say in loud voice, just in case they are listening.

Raising his Battleaxe over his head, the runes of the weapon started to glow, brighter and brighter, echoing with the red and gold phantasmagorical lights that the undead has drawn surrounding the bed of the victim of the [Fratricide]. More and more, the power kept accumulating and when the weapon started to crack, Carnage realized that he has missed a key component of his calculations.

[Hunger] was not adequate for the [Ritual], as powerful as the weapon was, it was limited by the materials that he has crafted it with, and the amount of power that was going to be needed to exterminate an entire race, that has been fifteen years reproducing at an impossible speed.

The weapon was going to break under the pressure, but alas, it was already too late and Carnage shrugged mentally and keep chanting and channeling the power of [Fratricide]. The sacrifices he has made over specific runes disappeared, claimed by the same beings he has named; Carnage cut his own hand with the incandescent edge of the blade of [Hunger] only his [Fireproof] trait prevent his hand to be burnt to the bone by the magical heat, leaving the palm of his hand like a bleeding charcoal instead.

Really, [Feel No Pain] has been usurped at the perfect moment.

Feeling his magical power and blood being drained by the needs of the [Ritual], Carnage raised the Battleaxe over his head, with the same hand he had left; and absorbing the power generated but the circle of runes and sacrifices; Carnage let the ax fall like the weapon of an executioner, fulfilling a death sentence.

"I am sorry, Cornelia". Carnage said to the Queen of the Myrmidons, formerly Cornelia Jusar, the youngest of the sisters of Jusar VIII and former Princess of the Southern Empire.

" _Thank you"._ Answered back Cornelia, with the last pieces of her soul, before [Hunger] fall over her, cutting flesh, blood, bone, and soul.

As [Fratricide] took place and liberated a killing wave of magic that would exterminate all the Myrmidons that had born from the flesh of Cornelia Jusar; all but a tiny baby hidden in a pocket dimension; the power generated and liberated inside the building size corpse of Cornelia, exploded in the most gruesome and violent manner possible, as the energy forced the flesh to explode like an overinflated balloon.

Unfortunately, Carnage was right, over it.

As the impact made Carnage lost consciousness; blessings, magic, and traits were not enough to nullify the damage and Carnage felt as all his bones were pulverized and his organs turned into hamburgers; Carnage noticed the golden circle of Pandora surrounding him.

With humor, he thought that every time Carnage evolved, he looks like he has been fighting a death match with a meat-grinder. Well, he was level 100 now, if he could he would have roared in joy, but his lungs were out of commission, pretty much like the rest of his body, now that he thought about it.

 _[Circe of Usurpation: Myrmidon Queen: Myrmidon Royalty trait Usurped]._

 _Usurping this skill has bounded your destiny to the Tale of the Children of the Golden Tree Watcher._

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Myrmidon Queen: Regeneration trait Usurped]._

 _You have reached [Lizardman Overlord Level 100]_

 _You can evolve to a Higher variation._

 _Overlord, Regicide, Exterminatus, [Ritual system] Master. You had accomplished the requirements for a unique Variation_

 _Do you wish to evolve into this unique variation?_

 **YES!** /No

 **End Chapter.**

 **Character Info:**

 **Name:**

Carnage "Carn" Runescales of the Stormrage Clan.

 **Race:**

Lizardman Overlord Level 100- ?

 **Unique Skills:**

-Circle of Usurpation: Much like the Authority, Carn can steal a Skill/Authority/Trait from the body of a defeated enemy, but only if it has been defeated by him.

-Divine´s Bane: As former Devil King, Carn is the bane of any divine spellcaster or divine creature.

-We want grandbabies!- Pandora and Epimeteo, wanted grandbabies to spoil, like it or not, Carn would have a harem.

 **Skills/Traits/Abilities.**

-God of Magic: Carn can learn any kind of magic, thanks to the Blessing of Pandora.

-Oldest soul: Carn had all the memories of Magnus Blacksson, the strongest and Oldest Campione of a bygone era. As magic comes from the soul, he had a godly reserve of magic to fuel his spells.

-Arcane System:

-Earth Magic Tier 4 1- [Echo]/ 2-[Metal sense]/3-[Earthcraft]/4-[Earth Armor]

-Sky Magic Tier 1 1-[Feather fall]

-Body Magic Tier 4 1-[Buff]/2-[Heal]/3-[Regenerate]/4-[Cleanse]

-Mind Magic Tier 1 1-[Zero Mind]

-Abyss Magic Tier 4 1-[Night Spear]/2-[Dark Mantle] /3-[Abyssal walker]/4-[Absorbing Abyss]

-Death magic Tier 1 1-[Death senses]

-Necromancy affinity Tier 4 1/2/3 [Summon Undead Servants Skeletons/Shadow Skeletons/Draugr]/ 4- [Undead Thrall]

-Ritual System:

-Unseen Servant: Carn can summon a Servant that acts as Steward, cleaning crew, cook, and infinite warehouse. He called the androgynous being of pure magic, Carravers It does have the sense of humor of an English butler.

-Algiz: Provides Magic Resistance (Arcane, Divine, and Ritual But NO Kinesis) for nine hours/days/years to a maximum of nine individuals depending on the magic power, components, sacrifices, etc.

-Revenant: Creates a powerful undead servant called Revenant.

-Requiem: Destroys an undead and releases its soul to whatever afterlife it was supposed to go.

-Unblemished Copyist: Creates a perfect replica of a non-magical text, drawing, etc.

-Fratricide: Kills an individual and all its blood progeny, no matter the generation.

 **Usurped Skills/Traits/Abilities/etc:**

 **Skills:**

-Pyrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural fire.

-Electrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural electricity.

-Acidkinesis: Carn can create and manipulate dangerous acids.

-Telepathy: Carnage can communicate via telepathy to creatures that shared a language with him.

 **Blessings:**

-Red Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the red head of Tiamat, Carn domain over fire is way superior to the rest of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Green Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the green head of Tiamat, Carn is the best poisoner of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Black Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the black head of Tiamat, Carn is the best Necromancy user of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

 **Traits:**

-Webbing: Carn can generate natural webbing of three colors steel, gold and red, he can project it from fingertips, mouth, tail tip and ass.

-Spit Poison: Carn can spit poison of varying virulence.

-Poisonproof: Carn is immune to all natural poison and highly resistant against magical poisoning

-Walk Walls: As a spider, Carn can walk barehanded/footed over non-slippery/wet surfaces

-Spiderkin: All Spiders considers Carn one of them, thanks to the effect of the [We want Grandbabies] bless, all female Arachnes found Carn specially Alluring.

-Stone Mimetic: Took the appearance, texture, and smell of the surrounding rocks, but not his hardness.

-Fireproof: Carn is immune to all kind of natural fire and highly resistant against magical fire.

-Blindsight: Perfect, 360º sight at 10 meters, no matter the conditions.

-Stone carving claws: 12 inches twin stingers from his forearms capable of cutting and carving stone with easiness.

-Mimetic: Carn can mimetic with the environment, better than any chameleon would do.

-Corrosive Stench: Carn could generate acid, nauseate and acid sweat.

-Hardened scales: Carn´s scale hardness is massively increased.

-Blood drinker: Carn can absorb the blood of his preys, healing himself from even crippling wounds.

-Elasticity: Carn can make his body as elastic as a pile of goo, without losing any strength or resistance.

-Tireless body: As soon as his magic can keep exhaustion at bay, Carn will not tire.

-Sharp scales: Carnage scales could turn sharp and edgy, wounding anything that touched them without protection

-Might of the predator: Carnage muscles are denser, stronger and more durable than they should, giving him strength, way beyond his size.

-Ghostkin: Ghosts, specters, phantoms and other apparitions, consider Carnage Kin and do not molest him. Thanks to the effect of [We want Grandbabies!], all female apparitions found Carn, specially Alluring.

-Multidexterity: Hands, feet, tail, tentacles, tongue; no matter, Carn can use any appendage as it was his good hand.-Feel No Pain: Carnage could tune out any sensation of pain, numbing his nerves and pushing beyond his limits; suffering the drawback, of course.

-Myrmidon Royalty: At the eyes of the Myrmidons, Carnage is a mix between a Royal Guard and the Queen of the Hive, the peak of the Hive. Usurping this skill has bounded Carnage destiny to the Tale of the Children of the Golden Tree Watcher.

-Regeneration: Carnage can regenerate even the most grievous wounds, except acid, fire, and pesticides.


	8. Gladiator I

**5.1- Gladiator I**

The Southern Empire had one of the most widespread slavery systems of the entire world.

In the main continent where it was allocated, the Southern Empire has practically enslaved all the races that had their domains on the lands of the Empire. Since the days of Jusar I, who conquered everything in his sight; until he reached the Dragon Empire and the Asgard Kingdom; and established the Capital of his Empire in the city of Hespérides.

All the non-human races that lived in the domains that the first Emperor conquered with a mix of brutal force and tactical acumen; Jusar I was a Demigod of unknown Divine parentage, but his power was more than clear for anyone that crossed paths with him; were turned into slaves, second class citizens of the Empire.

Slavery was quite complicated in the Southern Empire, there were entire volumes of laws about how to proceed when one was dealing with the rights and permissions of a slave and up to what point can a slave be considered an extension of their masters.

Essentially, slaves had zero personal rights, possessions, families or whatever; they are little more than, useful pieces of meat. They can not marry, they can not possess anything, they had no family name, no title, nothing. However, there are three kinds of slaves that were different from this cruel status.

First was the Libertos, slaves that have been granted freedom through years service, their owner dying and liberating them in their Last Will, voluntarily freeing them or earning it, through twenty-five years of service in the Imperial Legion, in one of the Slave Legions.

Those of these Libertos that cut any tie with their former masters were called Libertos Ingratas and it was a very common insult in the Empire, "Don't be an Ingrata".

Second, Custodes, slaves that control the slave traffic for their masters.

These are the most hated among the slave kind, as they are cruel and ruthless to their fellow slaves; they are the keepers and watchers of the slaves inside the house and acted as leaders of the Slave Legions, commanding them into battle, usually in front of the Imperial Legions; cannon-fodder on its worst expression.

Third, Potestos, slaves that could purchase and made dealings and trades in the name of their masters, but never contract debts in their names. They are better regarded than other slaves, mostly for the superior knowledge and cunning, as the cutthroat business world in the Southern Empire is a bloody nightmare itself.

Carnage was none of the previous three them.

Once the dust of the massive explosion settled, Carnage; still recomposing his body after the horrible damages that he has endured and weak as a kitten for the evolution into a higher variation; had the bad luck of being found by the scouts of a Slave Legion, that was nearby and tried to see what the heck was going on and why suddenly the earth has exploded like there was a volcano under their feet.

The leader of the Centuria was a Custodes, and as soon as he saw the new body of Carnage, he didn't lose a second in chaining him with the strongest chains they had, and covered him head to toe in bindings, magical and mundane, dragging him back to the encampment that his Slave Legion have.

The Custodes reported the discovery and quickly had the coven of spellcasters of the encampment, engrave the strongest [Crest of the Slave] ritual that they could cast. A veteran of the wars against the Dragon Empire, the Custodes recognized the variant of Carnage, even with the oddities that his unique evolution has developed in Carnage´s new body, and feared the powers that they wield, but at the same time, the Custodes knew that he has hit the jackpot. Such a slave was worth a fortune, no matter if he ended as a gladiator or a sex toy.

Once they embroidered the [Crest of the Slave] into Carnage´s flesh; they tossed him into a carriage, and send him directly to the slave market in the city of Hesperusa, several days by carriage from the crater that was the Queen´s Chamber.

Carnage passed the entire travel unconscious, his body still trying to adjust to the cruel bindings that have been forced on him and he was still weak after the evolution. Fortunately, his [Regeneration] and [Blood Drinker] kept him alive, as any fly, insect or vermin that came close to him was drained of blood by the body of Carnage, helping in his recovery.

Hesperusa was far from being the most vibrant of the cities, in all honesty, it was a pit of misery, poverty, and disgrace, where the difference between slaves and citizens of the Empire was not only visible but admired. Although, and in an ironic way considering the generally poor and disgraced aspect of the city, it was on the richer cities in the Southern Empire.

Mostly because the slave business was the main trade of the city.

The city was formed by two circles, the inner circle, with enhanced marble walls, was the place where the citizens of the Southern Empire lived, meanwhile, the outer circle was made by the specialized schools and barracks of the Slaves. From then outward, it was just a shantytown, made of the Slaves that were too old, too ugly or that has been crippled by their masters, who lived in poor conditions and worked in the fields and farms of the city.

Hesperusa had one of the most famous Coliseums of the Empire, they took pride in the fact that they can offer very unusual spectacles, as they had a wide variety of fighters and battles; from recreations of battles to duels between all kind of monsters and gladiator teams trying to take down a dangerous beast or another giant monster. Even naval spectacles and underwater battles thanks to the massive magical array that the spellcasters of the Southern Empire set up in the Hesperusa Coliseum and was only shared by the Coliseum of the Capital, Hespérides.

The Coliseum was allocated in the inner circle, in the west side of the city; occupying quite a lot of terrain, as they need the space for housing all kind of beings and the gladiators, reacting battles need a lot of slaves, even if they are going to be nothing but cannon-fodder.

It was mostly made of stone, magically enhanced and covered in wards against any possible attacks; to prevent the monster inside to escape or any lose spells hitting the surrounding neighborhoods; that had the appearance of obsidian but had the texture of solid stone. Intricate silver and golden decorations and hymns in the natal tongue of the Southern Empire, the Imperial, covered a lot of the surface, explaining the many and great deeds that the Jusar Dynasty brought to the Empire and the feats that the most famous Gladiators of Hesperusa did, in an out the Coliseum.

It was not rare for a Gladiator to become the bodyguard or the personal soldier of a rich merchant or even a military commander; lots of popular tales and theater plays were about Gladiators that become Libertos and made a name for themselves, turning into upstanding heroes and proud citizens of the Southern Empire.

The main slave market of Hesperusa was right under the shadow of the massive Coliseum, occupying part of the west and most of the southern part of the inner circle of the city; it was just a massive show of the merchandise, as the barracks and pens of the slaves and beasts are outside of the inner circle, but nonetheless, hundreds of slaves are put to show, their positive traits and prices being shout to the high heavens by the Custodes that worked in the market.

Hesperusa was a trade city, there were people from all the corners of the Empire in and out, all day, from buying slaved for the mines, selling art, buying monsters or unique cattle or exotic pets; slaves not included in this category, as the Southern Empire believe that intelligence was the difference between pets and slaves; no matter what. Hesperusa and its Governor were more than eager to receive them and their clinky, golden Jusares.

The Jusares, the basic coinage of the Southern Empire, from lowest to the highest copper, silver, and gold, with occasional coins made of unique alloys like Orichalcum or Platinum. Ten coppers equal one silver, ten silver equals one gold. It changed every year, depending on the price of the alloy of the coin.

Slaves, as it has been mentioned before, could reach tremendous prices, depending on the uniqueness of its breed or the talents they could provide to their new masters. Human slaves are almost every time judged in base of the "Jobs" they had before being slaves or the skills they could possess, if they lacked any "Job"; in the monster races, who evolved into variants, it was always a matter of checking what kind of variant they are and how rare is such variant.

Spellcasters, no matter species, are always sold for a good amount of money.

The average price for a human slave, without any noteworthy skill or even a basic "Job", was five gold Jusares, ten, if female, for her reproductive capabilities or fifteen for children that can be trained easily into what their masters wanted. A Tier-2 spellcaster of any [Arcane System] or a [Kinesis] user of some talent could be sold for even a hundred gold Jusares, depending on the branch it is specialized. Monsters, on the other hand, practically guarantee of a heated haggle, as their variations could be made lots of them practically unique.

An Arachne, like the one that Carnage killed as a Kobold, could be sold for hundreds of gold Jusares.

Until they are sold, all slaves are kept under the care and control of the Custodes, who answer with their own lives for any possible problem their merchandise could provoke. That was one of the reasons, why the Custodes were a cruel and ruthless bunch, as their own hides are at stake if a beast or a violent variant caused any harm to their possible masters or citizens of Hesperusa. It must be mentioned that the Governor of the City, Clereon Scipio, had zero tolerance with any troublemakers, Custodes, slaves or citizens, they are all the same to him, pieces of his city, as easily substituted as any slave.

As soon as Carnage entered into the city, he started to recover the consciousness.

First thing in his mind was the knowledge of what variation he has evolved into and the worst migraine ever. With the eyes still closed, as he did not want to pierce his eyesight with the sunlight that warmed his scales, he let his [Blindsight] compose a picture of what he had around.

A cage, metallic, enough for him and another half a dozen individuals, most humans with a powerful non-human and a Kin; a Kobold; among them. The cage was being carried by a strong ox; it was surrounded by a dozen humans; Legionaries for the smell of their armors and weapon oil; that walked at the side of the carriage. A quick deduction would be that they are prisoners or deserters. There were no human soldiers in the Dragon Empire, not in the Clan´s main forces at last; there were allies and occasional mercenaries, but that was a tiny fraction of the forces that took part in a battle and there were none of those in the Battlefront where Carnage fought.

The carriage was not the only one, there were three other carriages with people, this time monsters and non-human, and other five carriages with food, metal, wood?, and other things that Carnage´s senses did not recognize. However, Carnage realized that he was not a prisoner, but a slave. Carnage hissed silently in anger, but he sensed his chains binding him and the thing in his chest, blocking entirely his magic. [Arcane system] was forbidden for him for the moment, however, neither his Usurped traits or [Kinesis] powers were affected by the thing in his chest.

With the knowledge Carnage had of the [Ritual system], he could easily deduct it was a slavery ritual of some kind. Carnage knew three of them, the most common and easiest to use; you only need enough magical power to fuel the ritual; was the [Crest of the Slave].

So Carnage was a slave now. Great.

Although...thanks to his new evolution and the fact that he was a slave Inside of the Southern Empire, it opened up a lot of interesting possibilities.

Mentally sighing, Carnage enjoyed the warmth of the sun over his new body and just keep an "eye"; [Blind sight] was a godsend; on the caravan and the city that he was being driven in, as he mentally checked his new status.

 _[Dragonkin Overlord Level 1]_

 _[Divine Blessing of Pandora], [Divine Blessing of Epimeteo]. Your tale has changed to a Transcendental Path._

Carnage was a bit confused, it was the third time he has interfered with a "Tale". Carnage was not sure about how the Tales or destinies work in this world. As an old Nordmanni, he believed in wyrd, destiny, the Norns spin your tale and when your time comes, you will receive it with a sword in the hand and a smile in the lips. So far, he has interfered with three "Tales".

The Chosen Consort of Tiamat, the Children of the Golden Tree Watcher and, the new one, his own tale into a Transcendental path. What would that mean?. Transcendence was possibly related to the idea of ascending to a superior plane of existence. That would be interesting, considering his own [Circle of Usurpation].

But those were thoughts for another moment, right now, Carnage had more concerning questions to deal with, namely, being a slave in one of the most dangerous cities of the Southern Empire, and the non-written core of the slave traffic in the Empire. Carnage knew of Hesperusa, the massive slave market that his senses were depicting could only be two things, the main market in Hespérides or the second, not less big, market in Hesperusa.

Sure, his own people; as Magnus; had a slave system, but the slaves, called Thralls, were not disposable things, they were useful resources for the Clan, and must be treated as such. A Thrall can have a family and is protected by the Clan, anyone who causes harm to a Thrall must be prepared to pay the price to the Clan´s that owns it, be it in silver or blood. Taking good care of a Thrall was common sense for the Nordmanni.

Without his magical senses; dulled and plugged by the Crest; Carnage felt like he has lost an eye, he was really missing the capability of sensing magical energy and identify people with it, but fortunately, he had traits and his own enhanced senses to partially compensate the loss.

Anyhow, right now, the [Arcane system] was blocked for him, Carnage would have to lean into his collection of traits and his [Kinesis] capabilities; who are nothing to scoff at, specially thanks to the Red and Green blessing of Tiamat; and his own martial skills, earned the hard way thanks to the constant beatings of Fang and his memories as Magnus.

The caravan dispersed once they crossed the outer wall, and left behind the shantytown that grew outside the wall´s protection. The carriages that carried supplies, so to speak, moved into lateral roads of the town, perhaps into more common markets, meanwhile, the slave carriages continued. Squinting under his eyelids, Carnage groaned and admitted that perhaps it was time to open the eyes and face the music. With the muscles still sore as hell, feeling hungry and with a barely mitigated migraine, Carnage groaned, again, and tried to sit in the carriage where he has been traveling for Pandora knows how long. If this city was Hesperusa, then the Chamber of the Queen was seriously deep into the mainland of the Southern Empire.

First thing Carnage noticed was the poor maintenance of the buildings that he did pass by; although, everyone in these houses look like a mixture of former slaves, slaves, and humans; the middle class of the city so to speak; not as stepped on as the slaves, but neither as respected and pampered as the human citizens of the Southern Empire.

Second; Carnage´s eyes need a bit to adjust to the sun before he could realize it; he was with other human slaves, and the only other two that were not, were an Asgardian and a Kin, a female Kobold of the bluish scales that are the mark of the Stormrage Clan.

Taking a second to observe all he could of his new body; as Carnage was bound in chains practically head to toe; he realized that he has evolved into a very human-like evolution.

Dragonkin were the most human-like of the evolutions of the Kin, and he has ended transforming into one, although of the Overlord variant, keeping the unique evolution he received when he evolved from Kobold to [Lizardman Overlord].

First and foremost, Carnage was no longer gunmetal grayscaled, in fact, he had skin, or something akin to the skin, with scales in different parts of his body, a body ripped with dense and strong muscles, he must add. His skin was shadowy gold, only becoming a dull golden color in the scales of the upper forearm, sides, thighs, shins, shoulder blades and up to the middle back, judging the itch. Under the chains, he still could saw the red tattoo like markings that covered his chest and six-pack abdomen. Judging from the size of the carriage and the humans near him, he should be about eight feet tall. Two feet bigger than he was as a Lizardman. Carnage lacked tail too, pity, he has grown accustomed to the extra appendage.

His claws were no longer, Carnage had more humane hands, with long and sharp nails but nothing that a good nail clipper could not handle. Widening an eye, he realized that he was not dressed at all, except for the chains over his body, and could see his crotch clearly. His sexual organs were still protected into a muscular inner chamber like they were when he was a Lizardman, the only doubt Carnage had as if it would be compatible with other races. Knowing Pandora, it was not out of the possibilities, that she has twisted a bit his evolution into a more sexual compatible one.

"You are awake, Gullhauss". Snorted the Asgardian in his native tongue, Norse, when Carnage raised his head and saw him shuffling into a more comfortable sitting position. Smiling at him, the Asgardian snorted, pointing outside of the cage and said, "welcome to the city of misery".

Gullhauss, that name could be loosely translated as golden skull; that called the attention of Carnage who supposed that his face would have changed as well, losing a lot of the muzzle he had before and turning more human, but the horns and bone like crown that he had, must have taken a golden colored shade as well, judging by the name that the Asgardian has given to him.

The Asgardian was tall, seven feet and a couple of inches, build like a hairy stone wall, with red hair to the shoulders and blue eyes. He was a young one, a five o´clock shadow in his chin, and a very curious tattoo of the hammer of Thor in his right arm.

Carnage recognized Mjolnir in a second, the emblem of the God of Thunder. Most curious, considering that the Asgard Kingdom was born after the battle with Surtur, the Fire Giant, and Thor died in that conflict, killing the original Jormungand; although no one has the balls to say anything to the one in the Cold Sea about how she was the second generation, of course, you do not discuss with a monster of six thousand meters without some serious preparations.

"Happy to be among the living, warrior". Laughed like a bark Carnage, scratching as good as he could, the itch of the scales in his back. "I thought I was done for in the last battle".

"Well, not to rain on your parade, but we are slaves now". Chuckled the Asgardian, with the dark humor of the veteran soldiers. "Someone would consider it a sin worse than death".

"We survive". Shrugged Carnage, scratching his face to try to have an idea of how was his face now.

He still had his bone like crown, but now it covered the sides of his face and the forehead, like an open face helmet made of bone, only letting his read hair to escape; hair that reached his shoulders. Carnage still had a slightly muzzled face and pretty sure scales over his skin and reptilian eyes. Not sure the color until he could see himself in a reflective surface.

"We survive". Repeated Carnage feeling better after scratching that itch, and noticing how some scales fall over the carriage floor. They were a shade brighter than his skin, but not by much. "I thought I was a goner, and now I am alive, chained and sealed sure, but alive".

"Well, aren't you the optimist one?". Smirked the Asgardian redhead man. "I just hope that we do not end pushing a carriage up and down the fields, that would be a nightmare for a warrior like us".

"I am going to make a wild guess and say that we are going to end there". Pointed Carnage to the Coliseum shadow in the distance, eclipsing the buildings of the slave market. "Slave traffickers are not retarded, cruel? yes, totally devoid of any sense of mercy? absolutely; but never underestimate their intelligence, they have broken a lot of proud races and recognize talent when they saw it".

"Talent?. Raised an eyebrow the Asgardian.

"The Coliseum thirsts for more and more blood", shrugged Carnage. "Such a massive battle arena needs a lot of people to die in there, daily, and wasting warriors like us in the fields, would be a complete waste of time and money". Carnage scratched the Crest on his chest. "These things are not cheap, especially, the ones that block magic like this does, putting me behind a carriage and tending the crops would be absurd".

"I have no magic, Dragonkin". Shook his head the Asgardian. "My job is [Asgardian Warrior], not a spellcaster".

"A mere warrior with the blessing of Mjolnir?". Widened an eye Carnage. "Don't think so".

The Asgardian observed the exposed tattoo on his right arm and with a muffled curse, he covered it with the chains. Carnage though that the tattoo may have some kind of importance to the Asgardian beyond a symbol of blessing. Something personal that the Asgardian didn't like to share. Carnage could respect that, so far he has been lucky and no one has seen the [Circle of Usurpation], trying to explain that would be a nightmare on its own.

The female kobold shuffled and get closer to Carnage, who moved to face the little Kin, Carnage did not recognize her, but that was not an excuse to be rude with her. Kobolds are vital for the good going of the Dragon Empire.

"Benevolent One?". Said the Kobold, clutching her left side; Carnage could see some rustic bandages covering a nasty wound in there.

" _Keep it quiet, Kin, I am Carnage Runescales of the Stormrage Clan, but the Southern Empire, must not know of it"_. Quickly explained Carnage to the Kobold through his new telepathic skills. Carnage was realizing how useful, this kind of mental skill truly was, especially now that he had lost his magic.

The Kobold stiffened a second and shuffled on the cage, getting close to her Kin, even if she was going to shut up, she still tried to take comfort on the presence of another of her Kin. The Dragon Empire was a tightly knitted nation, being all of them from the similar evolutionary path, all of them related to Dragons and Tiamat in a way or the other. Sitting as comfortable as she could near Carnage, she adopt fetal position and tried to suppress the pains of the wound on her side.

With a side glance, Carnage noticed that she was trying to put a brave facade, but the cut was infected; his enhanced senses told him that much, and unless she got treatment, she would possibly die of blood poisoning in a couple of days. If Carnage wasn't chained and with his magic sealed, Carnage could have treated the Kobold in a second; unfortunately, he could barely move right now, and the only thing he could do was to telepathically comfort the Kobold and trying to motivate her spirit to hang in there a bit longer. Carnage can be a bloody bastard when he wanted, but he has never abandoned his people, and right now, Kin are his people.

The caravan finally reached the slave market and stopped in front of one of the stages on where the Custodes show their merchandise. Quite the crowd was reunited around the stages; with a quick glance, Carnage could see that these stages were more specialized in fighting slaves. Most of the slaves were males, a lot of them were part of races with a long military tradition and Carnage can see, about a hundred meters to the right; a bigger stage were females of dozens of races were exhibited like cattle.

The legionaries around the cage moved in front of it; weapons ready and a promise of violence in their eyes if someone misbehaves; and started to open the door of the cage.

Carnage; fighting a little with the chains over his body; took the wounded female Kobold in his arms, Carnage only needed one to keep her protected and carried; compared with his massive form now, the Kobold was little more than a scaled baby. In a show of strength, he raised from the floor, making the heavy chains echo and calling the attention of the legionaries to him. The Asgardian smiled and raised from the floor too, making the chains cringe from the strain and turning the attention of the legionaries to him.

It must be said that between the two of them, it was seriously worrisome for any common person. A Dragonkin and an Asgardian, both way bigger than the average human; like the dozen legionaries; and of unknown capabilities.

They could lack magic, but physical strength and [Kinesis] had nothing to do with magic and the legionaries were experimented enough to recognize that even if they killed this two, some of them are not going to make it, and the ones that survived would have to pay the price of the slaves.

The Governor of Hesperusa was crystal clear in that regard, no one disturbs the slave traffic profits. At best, they would become slaves to make up for the two death slaves. Of course, if they were lowly races or mere humans, that would be another tale, but a Dragonkin and an Asgardian, they sure would reach a very high price, and none of the legionaries wanted to pay the bill, so to speak.

Slowly, thanks to the bloody chains all around them, the half dozen slaves exited the cage/carriage and were guided into the back of the stage, were a big human; a Custodes, a broad and bald man of rugged features, who sported quite the tanned skin, black clothes and a big dagger on his belt; was waiting for them to release them of some of the chains; preparing them to be exposed in the stage.

Carnage has already observed the crowd, all of them looks like nobles and servants of the Government of the city, however, Carnage soon picked up some mannerism of people that knew violence and the presence of commonly dressed but still armed, individuals here and there.

Carnage supposed, and it was not a very wild guess; that he and the Asgardian are going to end like possible gladiators, both of their races and variants are known for being dangerous and strong, easily "Hero" Job level, in human standards.

Ending as farmers would be quite the waste, considering the high price they could reach in the market. Anyhow, Carnage was freed from most of his chains; still naked as the day he was born; and pushed ahead by the Custodes, who was about to examine the female Kobold in his arms. Removing the chains of the sleeping Kobold, the Custodes snorted and was moving his hand to the dagger in his waist, when he felt the hand of Carnage grip his arm like a bear trap.

Raising his eyes; Carnage was more than two feet taller than him; with a furious scowl, he crossed his eyes with the ones of Carnage, and the Custodes soon realized that he was prodding the sleeping dragon tail. The hand of Carnage was strong enough to make his arm buckle under the pressure and his eyes were the eyes of a Dragon; the Custodes saw the promise of a very violent and agonizing death in the intense eyes of Carnage.

The Custodes was a cruel person, but he was clever enough to recognize that this Dragonkin was not joking around, any harm to the kobold in his arms and the Custodes would die, painfully. Huffing, the Custodes pushed Carnage into the stairs of the stage. Carnage didn't even buckle under the rude push, the human lacked any real strength, but he obeyed, right now, he has to play the part of a slave, and disemboweling the human would send a very different message. Although, he would have done it in a heartbeat before the bastard could have killed the Kobold in his arms.

The Asgardian walked a bit later to the side of Carnage, smirking and shuffling with his chains, he obviously didn't like them at all.

"Magni". Said the Asgardian, and Carnage froze for a second, turning his eyes to the Asgardian, how did he know?; wait, it was not Carnage´s name, but the Asgardian name. Odd enough, it fitted him, as it was the name of one of the sons of Thor and he had the same red hair and blue eyes and...Pandora protects him.

Carnage kept himself silent and only widened one of his eyes in silent question.

"My name, Dragonkin". Explained Magni in his native Asgardian tongue, it was so similar to Magnus original language that Carnage quickly adapted to it. Carnage cannot say the same for the Southern Empire language or the language of several other races that had participated in the war. "I am Magni Torsson of the Tor Clan".

"Gullbani of the Brimstone Clan". Lied Carnage.

So far, he hoped that any possible investigation of his achievements in the Colony of Myrmidons could lead to the idea that Carnage Runescales died in the explosion, and the golden Dragonkin found kilometers far from the epicenter had nothing to do with it.

Carnage needed a new identity in the Southern Empire and Gullbani, the Golden Slayer; as Magnus was called once; would suffice. Not to mention that with the excuse of the Brimstone clan, he could use his Pyrokinesis a lot more freely. Stormrage was too close to Carnage, Swampmist were total opposite in colors of his actual scales, Blizzardhowl pretty much the same and Grimmwhisper were Necromancers, he had his magic sealed.

"Well meet then, Gullbani". Smiled the Asgardian, and offered his arm to Carnage who shake it by the forearm, like a fellow warrior should do.

"I noticed how you have protected the little Kobold". Said the Asgardian, observing the crowd with furious eyes, he really hated them. "Well done".

"She is Kin". Shrugged Gullbani, internalizing the name and making it his, Carnage Runescales was dead for the moment, let him rest in peace until he is needed again. "We do not abandon Kin in the Dragon Empire".

"The Tor Clan agrees wholeheartedly". Nodded Magni with approval in his voice, although his expression soon turns somber. "Unfortunately, I´m afraid that the slavers are not going to let you keep her safe for too long, they are already selling us to the best bidder, and the bald Custodes has not said a word about your little companion".

" _Careful, one of the legionaries at our back had the hand on the handle of the sword, he doesn't like that we are speaking and he doesn't understand a word of what we are saying"_. Said Gullbani telepathically to Magni, who stiffened a little but soon relaxed and kept his expression hostile for the crowd. _"For this people, Kobolds like her are little more than pocket money, nine silvers or a gold Jusar at the most, and that because she is female and can be used for reproduction with other Kobolds"._

" _There are Kobolds in the Southern Empire?"._ Asked Magni a bit surprised. He was convinced that the Dragon Empire was quite protective of the little reptilian beings, and they were extremely loyal in response.

" _Slaves, mostly cannon-fodder for the Slave Legions or cheap gladiators"_. Recited with disgust in his mental tone, Gullbani. _"If anything, the Southern Empire has always been extremely capable in the enslavement business"._

As they have their mental conversation, the crowd has already moved closer to the stage, trying to get a good sight on the new merchandise. Both non-humans on the platform were a rare product, the Dragonkin are usually too powerful to be captured and the Asgardians were pretty much the same, although the lesser race of the Asgard Kingdom, the Vanir, were more common on the slave markets.

The crowd was mostly formed by businessmen and merchants who were looking out for powerful bodyguards or caravan guards that would keep their envoys safe and would never smuggle anything out of them. In that mix, there were several important officers of the government trying to get a good bodyguard, Military leaders looking for good additions to their Slave Legions and of course, Gladiator managers that were always looking for the next possible champion of the Hesperusa Coliseum.

It was not a secret that Gladiators capable of surviving several bouts in the Coliseum were hard to come by, monsters or not, the competition in the Coliseum was tremendous and everyone had one or two aces under their sleeves. Nasty surprises that has cut down several careers, much to the fury of their owners and those who had bet on them. It was one of the reasons why the Crest suppressed [Arcane systems], they were dangerous advantages; on the other hand, powerful [Kinesis] users are very rare, and having one on the roster of any Gladiator School was always some nice publicity of the quality of their gladiators.

Every day, there are watchers from the Gladiator Schools, eyeing the merchandise; not only for the next champion but for solid values, like Saurus, Ogres, Minotaurs; races that even in their basic forms, are durable enough to provide enough combats to made their buy, profitable. Of course, powerful variants are always welcome.

As the bald Custodes keep screaming to the crowd the virtues of those in a show today; the real knowledgeable person on the crowd was already making their mental numbers.

A Dragonkin; on the paper; could be a nightmare and a blessing at the same time. Dragonkin are the most humane of the Kin that populates the Dragon Empire, not counting polymorphed Dragons that could take whatever appearance they want. This human-like appearance, made them quite the valued into the Southern Empire, as they are usually far more intelligent than their Kin; Lizardman and Kobolds; and had a lot of usual skills, from magic to uncommon traits like Kinesis or the ability to breath fire or even acid.

As the Custodes sold several of the human slaves and a few of the other monster races; the offerings started to get high, as they deal with the small fry, it was time for the real stars of the show namely, Gullbani and Magni. Although Gullbani was protecting the Kobold, he knew that the Custodes has not said anything about her. Magni was translating telepathically the contents of the selling that the Custodes was doing, and Gullbani took good note of learning the Imperial language as soon as he could.

To be completely honest, it was a bit low on his list of priorities when he was preparing for the war, he prioritized his job as a spellcaster, pity that most of his magic was sealed now.

The selling went back and forth for quite a while, as the Custodes was trying to sell them for a big prize, exaggerating their strengths and lying out of his ass about how they had been quite the nightmare to catch, with a high prize in men and resources to be finally chained down.

Well, in Magni´s case, it was true, they surrounded him in the frontiers with the Asgard Kingdom, trying to slip into the supply lines of the Dragon Empire, and only after Magni has killed a Slave Centuria all by himself, did he tire enough for the Southern Empire Custodes spellcaster to bind him with the [Crest of the Slave].

Magni was nursing a grudge the size of a mountain for the Custodes, and in a lesser way for any spellcaster that used any kind of mind control magic. Not that Gullbani disagreed with the sentiment, if he would have been awoken when they tried to capture him, he would have butchered all of them to the last man. Being a slave was not among his plans; the explosive results of [Fraticide] neither, but, well, live and learn.

After a heated haggling, the Custodes seems to be satisfied and signaled the legionaries to move Gullbani and the Asgardian down the stage and deliver them to a group of fellow non-humans that accompanied a short but bulky bearded man.

The man had black hair and a beard that only show his reddish eyes, he was quite hairy and dressed in a comfortable leather armor, with a Southern Empire standard short sword, the one that all the legionaries carried everywhere; possible signaling him as a Liberto that has earned his freedom by serving in the Slave Legions; and had the kind of look that screamed criminal and gladiator all in one.

He was accompanied by three Hobgoblins; the bulky and furred evolution of the goblin race; their gorilla-like posture betray the attentiveness with they were observing Magni and Gullbani, and how they had their hands in the spiked mace that they carried in their belts. The brown furred Hobgoblins has been well trained, they soon have learned that any laziness and sloppiness on their work means a lot of pain, and they have learned the hard way that the slaves that their master usually buys are nothing but dangerous. After all, he was a Gladiator manager, he needed recruits for the slaughterhouse that was the Coliseum every day.

With their arms ready, the legionaries pushed Magni and Gullbani out of the platform and into the floor under them, accompanying them to the place where their new owner was fulfilling all the paperwork that would mark him as their owner. The little tent and bureaucrat that worked in the slave market was always busy fulfilling the hundreds of contracts that took place every day.

Once they reached the place, as the bearded man was paying quite the amount of Jusares for them; Gullbani was impressed, they were sold for easily a thousand Jusares between the two; the legionaries drag them by their chains, surrounding them as one of them; the only one with magical capabilities; explained the new owner, the specifications of the Crest that they have on their chests.

One of the legionaries, moved to Gullbani and put his hands over the sleeping Kobold; sedated by the telepathic and poisoning skills of Gullbani, gaining time for her until he could heal her more properly; the legionary tried to take the Kobold from the arms of Gullbani and Gullbani did not budge a millimeter, looking at the legionary like it was an annoying fly.

Taking confidence in the fact that the legionary has done it a thousand times, he frowned, pointed his weapon at Gullbani and tried to take the Kobold once more, without any success, as Gullbani did not seem impressed by the steel sword of the man, and just keep staring at him. The tense situation started to affect the rest of the legionaries, that surrounded the pair, swords ready and violence in their posture. Magni twirled his chains and surrounded his fist with them, transforming the binds, into an effective pair of chained gauntlets.

The legionary that was trying in vain to take the Kobold from the arms of Gullbani, raised his sword to strike at him; however, Gullbani was faster and with his free hand, grab the legionary by the wrist of the arm of the weapon and raise him from the floor, as Gullbani was at last two feet taller than the legionary.

The legionary panicked, unaccustomed to this manhandling and punched Gullbani´s face with all he had. When his fingers snapped and bleed, he realized that he has committed a great mistake and screamed in pain; the other legionaries stiffened in surprise, as they have seen how he has punched the Dragonkin in the face, but the legionary was the one screaming in pain. They were about to kill Gullbani when the new owner of the pair intervened.

With a loud and authoritarian voice, he boomed over the fight with his three big Hobgoblins behind him, the three slaves had their spiked maces out and ready, and they were twice as bulky as any of the legionaries. Things could go pear-shaped for the legionaries quite fast; so they soon put their weapons down and tried to reason with the bearded man.

Really, Gullbani, put the learning of the language of the Southern Empire as his first priority, he really should have thought about it before, but with only three or four months of life and with a war looming over his head, language studies were not a big priority; enough blessed he felt when the native tongue of Magnus was so similar to the Norse of the Asgard Kingdom.

"Let the cretin go, Kin". Said a voice in the tongue of the Dragon Empire, although with a horrid accent. As Gullbani moved his head to face the voice, he was surprised to see the bearded man, speaking to him in Gullbani´s native tongue.

"You speak my language, that's quite the surprise". Admitted Gullbani, releasing the arm of the legionary who falls to the ground and hissed, clenching his messed up hand.

"A bit, I am not as fluent as I would like but enough to make my point". Nodded the bearded man. "Now, why are you crushing the cretin´s hand?".

"He was going to kill my Kin". Show Gullbani, his little protege to the bearded man. "And I am not going to allow that".

"You are a slave now, you don't have Kin or any possession". Clearly stated the bearded man. "However, I bought the three of you, and no one kills my slaves unless I am the one that ordered it". Recognized the bearded man, who turned to the legionaries and started to speak with them.

 _"I take he is chewing them for almost killing one of his slaves?"._ Telepathically asked Magni. _"Thanks for backing us up, by the way"._

" _More or less, with a lot more insults and explaining that the one with the crushed hand would have taken the place of the Kobold"._ Answered Magni with humor in the voice. _"And you are welcome, I like your loyalty to your Kin, is like having a comrade of the Tor Clan around, but with a lot more scales and golden colored"._

"Now that, that has been cleared up". The bearded man eyed the retreating legionaries with a harsh glare and turned back to them with his brows in a frown. He was speaking to them in Norse, demonstrating that he knows at last three languages. "I will be very clear with you two, I do not condone any pissing contest like this; Jusares be dammed, I am your owner and I will disembowel you with my own hands if you try to pull another stunt like this one again".

Both Magni and Gullbani could understand the man, and even if they know that they are capable warriors and the result of a battle would possibly be the other way around, the bearded man was not joking or trying to be more macho than anyone. He was stating a reality, he was not in the mood for any shenanigans and would cut them down shortly. The proof was the three Hobgoblins that accompanied him; Hobgoblins are not precisely the most obedient of the races, they are famous for being raiders and tyrants of their own goblin communities.

"Understood". Simply answered both of them in a neuter tone, not giving a step back at all, they could be slaves, but Pandora will kick his ass ten ways to Sunday if Gullbani ever started to act like a spineless wimp.

With a single grunt, the bearded man ordered them to follow him and they started to walk, surrounded by the three hobgoblins; always with their maces on their hands; into whatever destination the man was leading them. It was not a surprise that soon they reached one of the laterals of the Coliseum of Hesperusa. The entrance of the Coliseum was a very big door, made of some kind of wood and reinforced steel bars, big enough for even a giant to pass and once close, preventing anything lesser than a Dragon to smash their way out.

They enter into a little labyrinth of halls and pathways inside the Coliseum, crossing in front of other doors, who had different banners and symbols near their doors or over them. The bearded man succinctly informed them that they will reside on the quarters of other gladiators inside the Coliseum, that some of the most famous or skilled competitors are granted something akin to personal quarters inside of the Coliseum. They could not leave the place, but they have several commodities and services that the other, common, gladiators and even other slaves outside didn't have.

Gullbani instantly thought about golden cages, however, a golden cage is better than a common cage, especially golden cages that left you space for experimentation, testing and planning how to crumble this house of cards. Carnage made a promise to Cornelia on her deathbed and even if he was Gullbani now, he pretended to saw it to the end.

After they walked deeper into the bowels of the Coliseum, they reached a metallic door, protected by two cyclops dressed with legionary armors and carrying heavy steel cubs. The door was surprisingly tall; easily a foot or two taller than the fourteen feet tall cyclops that protected it; made of obsidian if Gullbani was not mistaken, and covered in protective iconography and hymns in the native tongue of the Empire. In resume, it was a door that would need a lot of power to take down, reinforced by magic to an utmost degree. Even with his magical senses dulled to a null, Gullbani could recognize a ward when he saw it.

The Cyclops opened the door and let them in. The insides of the Coliseum were illuminated by torches and a few magical lanterns here and there; the insides of the room where they have been guided was illuminated with the latter. The lanterns were round things with white paper surrounding a magical ball of light. A simple but efficient design that has been widespread all around the globe, no matter where you go, you can lantern like those around. Proof that a good idea could be accepted in any culture, no matter the differences between them.

As soon as they entered, they saw another dozen slaves waiting in the big room that was the center of the underground building where they have been carried by the bearded man. Some of the slaves have formed little groups, other were simply leaning on the wall or observing the diverse allocations that the underground building have. As the different rooms lacked doors, it was easy to see that they were training facilities with one or two quarters for them to sleep.

Once the doors closed behind them, the bearded man ordered the Hobgoblins to unchain Gullbani and Magni, they did toss a look at the Kobold, but they unchained the little Kobold too. The little thing has been sleeping all this time on the arm of Gullbani; the Dragonkin knew that the healing coma he has put her through was helpful, but it was not going to be enough to heal her.

Once free, Magni stretched his arms and massaged his wrists, his pink flesh show marks where the chains have been straggling his blood circulation; in the case of Gullbani, and thanks to his Usurped traits, all the chains were little less than an annoyance, the real drag was the Crest on his chest, that blocked all his magic.

"You, Asgardian, translate for the Kin". Ordered the bearded man and Magni nodded.

"Now listen to me maggots!". Shouted the bearded man, calling the attention of all the presents in the room and the ones that were looking inside the other rooms. "I am Lycaios Rebele, your new deity for all that matters, from now on, you belong to the Lycaios´s School of Gladiators; this is your new home, here you will be trained and you will be prepared for your debut in the Coliseum, where surely half of you will end as crow´s food".

"This will be my prophet". Lycaios pointed out to a door, from where a black skinned Cyclops exited, towering over everybody except Gullbani; as they were both standing over the eight feet tall mark; the muscular Cyclops was dressed in a simple furred kilt, had a long white mane to the middle back and a wide, fanged, smile on his face. "Wikóc is the voice of God, he will determine whom among you, pathetic lot, is ready for the Coliseum and who will end as servants and bitches for the others".

"This is a wolf eat dog world, and I want the wolves among you to raise". Laughed Lycaios with dark humor. "Now, you are all in the tender care of Wikóc, in three days I will pick up the worthy among you and toss them in the Coliseum, I want a bloody good spectacle or I will sell you as dog food, now get to it".

Lycaios ended his little speech and left the room, accompanied by the three Hobgoblins that has been with him all the time. As soon as he crossed the black door that separated the Lycaios gladiator quarters, the black-skinned Cyclops took the stage and started to speak to all of them; telepathically, and that was quite the surprise for the dozen or so slaves that have congregated in the middle room and the four that were observing from the windows of the open quarters and training rooms that confirmed their new home.

" _Yes, this is me in your little minds, I am a [Mind Walker Cyclops] variant, a [Telepathy] user along other [Kinesis], so any thoughts about stealing my keys and made a run for the outside or stabbing me while I am sleeping and I will eat your intestines in front of your faces"._ Presented himself the cyclops with the usual threats, however, coming from a telepath is not that empty.

" _Now, I want all of you to enter into the armory, the building over there",_ he pointed to an open door, from where it can be seen some weapon racks. _"Pick up the weapon of your choice and get back here, we are going to have a little tournament to see who among you had any talent in martial arts"._

Gullbani obeyed for the moment, rebelling right now, would be counterproductive and he had a lot to learn before doing anything; learning the culture and language of the Southern Empire for starters; he was lost here, and he hated ignorance, as much as he was the only guilty one for that accusation and the scarce time that he had since he was born in this world. Barely four months and it already feels like an entire life. Once Gullbani entered in the arsenal, he realized that all weapons are crude wooden imitations, no real steel here. Not really a surprise, no one would deliver real steel to slaves that are trained to be professional killers unless they were already prepared to be tossed into the Coliseum.

Checking the balance of the weapons, he finally chose a wooden copy of a Dane ax, it was a very common weapon among the Asgard Kingdom warriors and Gullbani was quite proficient with it. Gullbani lamented the loss of [Hunger], the ax did perform a great service for him for the small time that he had it in possession, although, he was sure that Carravers would have picked up the pieces left.

Not being able to summon his [Unseen Servant] was quite the annoyance, none of the weapons, supplies and other miscellaneus items that Gullbani had inside it was at his reach, and they sure would have come in handy. Easily leaning the perfectly represented Dane ax over his shoulder, Gullbani walked out the armory, observing a bit what the other slaves have picked up and what kind of races were present.

Five Hobgoblins, two Osgos, four Dark Elves, two Gnolls, a Troll, Magni, the female Kobold, and Gullbani were all the slaves present in the barracks.

The Hobgoblins were anything out of the ordinary for their race, five feet and half tall, hunched, brown-skinned and furred, slightly canine humanoids with strong complexions and looking like they are frowning all day. They were stronger than the average human but not as Kin. They have armed themselves with shields and scimitars. The Hobgoblin was a variant of the brown-skinned goblin race, who is like a bald, human child with tusks and a very bad attitude.

The Osgos was a variation of the Hobgoblins, an evolution of the common Hobgoblin, that stood over them by a foot and had a bigger and long brown mane and twice the muscular mass, with a wide mandible full of fangs and a cruel expression in his blue eyes. He was carrying a great sword in a hand like it weighted nothing, silently showing his physical strength, the other just picked up a polearm and followed his fellow Osgo.

The Dark elves were three females and a male, all of them with the tanned skin color that characterized their race. One of the women had deep red hair, meanwhile, the others were black and brown haired. They were warriors, all in their body language spoke of familiarity with the weapons they have chosen, spears, scimitars, and bucklers.

Gullbani lacked any knowledge in the Dark Elves evolutions, beyond the known fact that the Southern Empire invaded them and slaved their entire population. The red-headed one was quite attractive though, her azure eyes spoke volumes of the steel that she had in her soul.

The Gnolls were another evolution of the brown goblins, one that looks like a hybrid between a hyena and a human and they had a well-deserved fame of being hungry bastards, but once a chain of command is clear; especially with a female at the top, even if it was impossible for anyone, not Gnoll to discern between the two genres; they are surprisingly obedient and disciplined.

Until their alpha is slain and then all semblance of discipline is broken.

Their fur was of light colors, like a dark yellow with black spots in some places and they have always their tongues hanging from their mouths. They have chosen battleaxes as a weapon of choice and had the strength to carry the weapon around without any problem.

The Troll was a very unusual specimen of his kind, he was taller than anyone, standing over nine feet and a couple of inches tall, with a powerful but gorilla-like complexion; he was bald, had floppy pointy ears and had a permanently sad expression in his rugged face, with a couple of squared tooth showing on his lower lip. His skin was blue and had the appearance of stone. If Gullbani had to bet, he would have bet that the Troll was a stone based variation of the common Troll race, who are way smaller and pudgy that the behemoth in front of him. The sad Troll had picked up a massive Warhammer and was carrying it over his shoulders with a void stare in his yellow eyes.

Magni, on the other hand, has picked up a hammer and a solid round shield from the armory and was waiting for Gullbani at the improvised ring of combat that has been formed in the middle of the open room in the Lycaios´s Gladiator quarters and training grounds.

" _Everybody has a weapon now?"._ The stare of the Cyclops to the comatose Kobold in the arm of Gullbani was very eloquent, but instead of commenting something, the Cyclops seems very amused by something and just let it pass, much to the surprise of Gullbani, who was convinced that he was going to fight with the Cyclops for the life of the Kobold.

" _Let's begin then, all of you will have a number"._ Show the slaves a pair of six faced bone dices. " _And I will let the luck determine who battles who"._ The Cyclops started to shackle the dices in his hand, kneeling to toss them into the ground. _"Remember, no killing strikes for the moment, that will come later, for now on, we will determine who among you are warriors and who servants"._

Sixteen combatants, the Cyclops has only two dices, but as soon as the combats progressed, the numbers would be equalized. Each combat put two fighters out of the battles; unless the Cyclops considered they had it too easy and deserved another chance to show what they got, as he did with some of them as they dispatched their enemies with easiness. Wikóc was having a lot of fun with all these, but Gullbani just shrugged and went with the flow.

Gullbani crushed one of the Hobgoblins in a second, jumping and slamming the bottom of his Dane ax on the shield and once the Hobgoblin´s guard was lowered by the powerful impact, Gullbani twirled the ax and stopped the strike before the wooden blade hit the face of the Hobgoblin, who blinked a pair of times, before realizing that his head would have been split in half before he could have even registered it.

Magni clinched one of the Gnolls weapon arms with his own and stopped the edge of his shield before it crushed the face of the Gnoll. Judging for what Gullbani saw, Magni could have broken the neck of the Gnoll if he didn't hold back his punches, but Wikóc has let it clear that no killing strikes for the moment.

That doesn't mean that they could not as much pain as possible, and the smirk of Wikóc during all the combats told Gullbani all he needed to know. The Cyclops was a total sadist, but he was fair and as promised, he didn't allow any lethal attacks, threatening with turning anyone defiant slave into a comatose piece of meat that would not even remember how to wipe its own ass.

A poor Dark elf woman valiantly tried to feint and pose a killing strike to the eyes of the Troll, but the Troll didn't fall for it and stopped one of his fists; bigger than the head of the Dark Elf; before he hit her in the face and possibly, smash it like a watermelon under a jackhammer.

One Osgo didn't pull anything back and like a rabid berserker, he didn't stop until he broke his wooden Great Sword in the head of one of the Gnolls, much to the displeasure of the other; however, the victory was not without cost, and the Osgo was battered and bruised for the payback that the Gnoll has dished to him with his battleax.

The redhead Dark elf was impressive to behold, as she moved like a phantom around her Hobgoblin opponent, her scimitar dancing at the eyes of the Hobgoblin until she hit him in the face with the buckler of the other hand and would have slit his throat if it wasn't a wooden blade.

The Osgo with the poleaxe easily dispatched the male Dark Elf; skillfully tossing him to the ground with the handle of his poleaxe and striking with the blade of the weapon, although, he did stop his wooden weapon before it could have crushed the stomach and chest of the fallen Dark Elf.

The Dark Elf woman win against a Hobgoblin, thanks to her spear and how the Hobgoblin tried to rushed things, giving her the edge she needed to end the battle.

The battles continued for a little, but soon it was clear that Magni, the Troll, the redhead Dark Elf and Gullbani were the real powerhouses here. They defeated all their opponents, and Gullbani took the Troll out, meanwhile, Magni caught the redhead Dark Elf by surprise as she tried to blindside him with her buckler. The Osgos were strong but they trusted a bit too much in the superior strength of their race, the Troll soon show to the one with the Great Sword how mistaken he was, the Gnolls had talent but they were a bit lost, possibly because they were accustomed to fighting alongside each other and noticed the absence of the other in this one-on-one duels.

In the end, the only ones standing were five of them, Magni, the redhead Dark Elf, the Troll, the Osgo with the Great Sword and Gullbani. Wikóc seemed satisfied with the result and put an end to the battles; however, he was far from call it a day, now comes the funniest part, at last in his opinion, about; as he has promised; Who was the servant and who was the warrior.

It was a curious form of doing things but it was quite the motivator for the slaves to better themselves.

In resume, the ones that Wikóc has determined were the warriors, would pick up servants for the rest of their time there, or until Wikóc wanted to have another tournament like the one they just have. Servants, that would have to obey him in everything they wanted, or Wikóc will see that their Crest activated or he becomes a little more creative with their telepathy and made them believe that each time they drink water, it tasted like acid, or shut down their eyesight for a while, or make them see things that are not there; horrible and disgusting things that feels quite real.

The Troll, the redhead Dark Elf, Magni, Gullbani and an Osgo, were the ones chose to be able to select their servants for the rest of the day; as it was already the evening, if Wilkóc was not messing with them; and until the Cyclops decided that it was enough and they have to demonstrate that they are warriors. Considering that there were three females; quite attractive ones; among the servants, Gullbani was convinced that Wikóc was a bloody bastard and was doing all of this just for the laughs and to see the real character of the people.

After a short mental conversation with Magni, Gullbani stated his desire to keep the wounded and comatose Kobold as his servant, not really needing anyone else, he was more than enough to look out for himself. The Osgo of the Great Sword; whose name was something unpronounceable and full of something akin to barks, so Gullbani baptized him like Barky; did a comment in Imperial language. Once Magni translated for Gullbani, he smiled and told him that raping was possible the only way than a useless waste of flesh like him could use to know the touch of a woman or a pig, considering his face, he was not entirely sure of what would be his preferences.

Barky did not take it well, but before he could attack Gullbani; and frankly Gullbani wanted a good excuse to transform the cretin into the dinner; the Cyclops that overlords them simply coughed very loudly and smiled at Barky, who paled; quite curiously considering his brown fur; and stepped back, but never lose his hated glare for Gullbani.

Gullbani, simply thought that it was a good thing, if the cretin tried anything, he would have all the excuses of the world to rip him a new one, feed on his innards and see if his [Circle of Usurpation] could be made something useful of it. He has defeated all his opponents in this little tournament but he has not received any power from the [Circle of Usurpation]. It does seem that the death of the opponent was another requirement of the Circle.

Gullbani picked his Kin, not really a surprise there, the comatose Kobold need all the help he could muster in this place; Magni was the next and picked the Dark Elf women, much to the surprise of the redhead who frowned at Magni but kept her mouth shut; the Troll said that he did not need any servants, the redhead did not lose time and picked up the last Dark Elf, much to the relief of said male, who feared he was going to be used as leverage; Barky picked up the Hobgoblins; leaving the Gnolls and the other Osgo free to do whatever they wanted, unfortunately, Wikóc had another ideas and said that it was not right. He has ordered them to pick servants and that was they are going to do.

Sighing; curiously in sync; Gullbani and the Troll picked the Gnolls and the Osgo respectively, they only wanted to call it a day and finally get some grub and booze; Gullbani especially, who has been almost three days feeding in the vermin that poked his unconscious body after he evolved.

Finally free of all that bullshit, Gullbani walked into the dining room; a spacious room with tables where other; human; slaves served the food to the future gladiators; they have strictly prohibited to spoke with the gladiators, otherwise Wikóc would be with them the entire day, a nightmare that no one ever dare to cast upon their worst enemies.

Gullbani grabbed a lot of food, a dense and not very that appetizing stew, and wolfed it down with jars and jars of the watered beer that they were serving. It tasted like heaven after three days of nothing but the absorbed blood of vermin. Eating like there was no tomorrow, much to the amazement of the slaves in charge of the kitchen, who were seeing him drink an entire cauldron of stew; Gullbani took a seat in one of the benches and carefully deposited the comatose Kobold on it.

Still, before Gullbani could observe the wound on the side of the Kobold, his [Blindsight] told him that he had company. The Gnolls have followed him; one of them with the jaw still hanging and looking very broken, and have seat in front of him like they were loyal hounds. Gullbani knew some of the most peculiar traits of the race, and by some twisted logic, they consider him their alpha now; usually, that position was a strong female, as the females tend to be bigger among the Gnolls society. Widening an eye in silent question, the Gnolls look at him expectantly and with not so subtle glances to the stew cauldrons that the slaves in charge of the kitchen have left for them.

The Gnolls twisted their heads to the right a little, like hounds who don't entirely understand what happens in front of him, and Gullbani sighed, now this was going to get ridiculous, he has trusted Magni and the comatose kobold with his little secret about telepathy. Magni was an Asgardian of the Tor Clan, warrior code was all for them, and he already has backed up Gullbani in a couple of tense situations, but trusting this Gnolls or any of the other possible companions in the battles of the Coliseum was stretching things a little too much.

"Does any of you spoke Norse or Dragon?". Asked Gullbani with little hope. As he expected the Gnolls just stared at him without understanding a single word. "I really need to learn Imperial as soon as I can". Grumbled Gullbani.

Fortunately, the rest of the slaves appeared through the doors of the dining room and Gullbani sighed in relief, seeing Magni chatting in a respectful tone with the redhead dark elf. Barky and his gang and the Troll and the other Osgo just picked up their food and sat far from him. Barky tried to kill him with his glare, but Gullbani smiled, widely, predatory, with a wicked smile that promised untold agony and Barky huffed before breaking eye contact.

"Magni, I need your help, my friend". Called Gullbani, with relief, to the Asgardian. "I must ask of you to be my translator once again, I am trying to explain somethings to my friends here but...".Pointed out Gullbani to the Gnolls who are still sitting in front of him, patiently waiting. It was true that once they have an alpha, they are quite disciplined and obedient.

"I see your problem". Laughed Magni. "By the way, let me introduce you to Decurion Aneesa and her merry band of misfits, don't worry they all spoke Norse, they are one of the few survivors of the Slave Legions that botched up the invasion of the Asgard Kingdom".

"Well meet, warriors". Smiled Gullbani to the Dark Elves who were still a bit wary of the massive Dragonkin, the only one who was capable of vanquishing the behemoth of a Troll that could have crushed any of them with bloody easiness.

"So, what do you need?". Asked Magni.

First of all, Gullbani tried to drive a point home; he was not anyone´s alpha; total bullshit, he was the alpha of the alphas thanks to his Campione´s soul, but right now, a bloody retinue was not in his plans, he needed to learn a lot before pulling that move.

Unfortunately, the Gnolls didn't want to hear about the matter, he has defeated the strongest of them Ish, a female; that did everyone in the conversation blink; and by so, earning the place of the alpha. They were sincere and admitted that they would have preferred to be under the command of the redhead female, much to the amusement and not little surprise of the said redhead.

Gullbani picked something on the body language of all the Dark Elves at that remark, a hidden flinch that spoke volumes about something that happened in the past and surely, the reason why they ended in this hole. But they recognized that Gullbani was the strongest and they were happy to follow such a worthy alpha.

Gullbani did not lose a second and offered them to Aneesa who raised her hands and denied vehemently, she had more than enough keeping her own kin safe; the Dark Elves were the weakest bunch, sure they had the skill, but as the Troll and Gullbani has widely demonstrated, they had the strength and the skill to smash them to pulp if they ever tried anything.

The Troll was a formidable enemy, Gullbani has been hard-pressed to keep up with the raw strength that the Troll possessed, if they were using real weapons, he was sure that he would have had an even more difficult time to best the Troll. He was quite the unusual specimen of his race, a mountain troll of some kind that was quiet, pacifist and had a cold and efficient way of fighting; somehow, Gullbani was curious about what kind of power could he have Usurped if he had killed the Troll, however, at the same time, Gullbani shudder to think in what mess could he has been dragged into, as it happened with the Chosen of Tiamat and the other tales that he has interfered with.

Surrendering to the inevitable, Gullbani ordered the Gnolls to look out for Wikóc and ask if they could break a wooden staff, then they will grab all the food and drink that they could and recover their strength. Meanwhile, he explained to the rest of the people around him what he intended to do.

First of all, he was going to bite off the wound of the side of the Kobold and use his [Pyrokinesis], raising quite the number of eyebrows as he has not used it all during the battles; however, Gullbani said that he was part of the Brimstone Clan, and those Kin always had a sliver of [Pyrokinesis] so it was not a surprise. What did come as a surprise was his skill to create and manipulate webbing like he was some kind of spider; Gullbani explained that it was a gift from a former lover, a blessing from Arachne, patron Goddess of the race of the same name, for services rendered. That was not exactly, but he did bested a Priest of Arachne and usurped her webbing and the [Spiderkin] trait that made him especially alluring to female spiders.

In a single, powerful, bite, he chomped down the infected wound of the female Kobold, who unconsciously stiffened into her coma; hiding in plain sight his [Blood drinker] and [Spit poison] skill, to drain her body of any infected blood and inject her with a mixture of painkillers and medicine. Poison and medicine are two sides of the same coin and thanks to the blessing of the Green, he was the supreme poisoner.

Spitting the flesh onto the floor, Gullbani channeled his [Pyrokinesis] to carefully cauterize the wound; the medicine in her bloodstream will keep any possible infection at bay and bandaged the wound with his webbing. Now, he only had to wait for the Kobold to awake.

In the case of Ihs, it was simply a matter of correctly splint his fracture; hiding a generous dosage of painkillers and other poisons that would help him mend his broken jaw; with half of the broken staff and making a hole in the other half for him to use as a straw to suck food, during all the time that his jaw take to mend.

Even if he did not try, Gullbani; as any Campione; cause sensation whenever he went.

They had a friendly chat, and Gullbani took advantage of the occasion to mentally slitter a little into the minds of everyone around; except the mind of Wikóc who would have caught him in a second; listening to the mental debate they were having at the same time that he have a peaceful dinner with Magni, the Gnoll twins; yes Ish and Ihs were twins, brother and sister enslaved by the Southern Empire along all her tribe from the deserts that were in the past the Desert Elves kingdom; and Aneesa and her followers.

Gullbani started to realize how truly dangerous a skilled telepath was; and how cannot be otherwise, he had a sadist one as the taskmaster in this Gladiator´s training ground. Fortunately, Gullbani could detect the incursions of Wikóc in his mind, as he was a fellow telepath, however, Gullbani was not that arrogant to believe that he could face the more experienced [Mind Walker Cyclops] in mental combat; instead Gullbani will develop a more refined mental defense and forge his mind into an unbreakable fortress.

The lanterns of the dining room started to dim, indicating that the night has come to the outside world and they should still adjust themselves to the same schedule that the rest of the inhabitants of Hesperusa. There are races among them that are mostly nocturnal, like the Hobgoblins, however, Wikóc mentally command them to have a good night rest, as tomorrow they will have a lot of work to do. Sighing, all of them moved to the barracks, looking for a comfortable bed to sleep. They may be slaves, but the beds were surprisingly comfortable, Lycaios may be a bastard, but a farmer did not abuse his cattle or he will soon be out of business.

And so, the first day of Gullbani as a member of the Lycaios School of Gladiators come to an end. The [Dragonkin Overlord] was as stunned as the rest, but he quickly adapted and started to plot how to fulfill his two main objectives. One as Kin and another, a promise made to a tortured soul. They are quite ambitious, so much Gullbani understood, but he was a Campione at the soul, and in essence, every one of them, were bloody knuckleheads that understand little of limitations and common sense.

The second and the third day were similar to the first, however, in the second day, Wikóc wanted to see what made all of them special, arguing that it was good to have an ace under the sleeve, but slaves and gladiators did not have any secrets with their managers. A lot of money and effort was put on their training and maintenance, knowing what exactly they can do is necessary to train them adequately and to find proper opponents for them in the Coliseum, the few occasion where Lycaios could select his gladiator to face a specific challenge. It was revealing, every one of them had quite the unique talent hidden; or at last, the six that choose servants the first day.

Magni was impossibly strong and resilient, even for Asgardians, thanks to the Crest, he had all his magic sealed so it was not of use of him. Of course, he did lie about his magic in the carriage, you did not reveal all your cards to a stranger until he has proven to be a friend.

Aneesa was a [Dark Elf Blade Dancer], meaning, give her any blade and she would become a whirlwind of blood and devastation, her magic was sealed, but her [Telekinesis] was more than enough to keep control over three or four blades at a time; real blades, not wooden copies, that were useless for her.

The Troll, whose real name was Groanok, was an [Earth Shaker Mountain Troll], a very powerful variation of the Troll race that specialized in the manipulation of earth and stone; supreme builders and stoneworkers, unfortunately, without his magic, he only had his monumental physical powers and cold mind.

Barky, whose real name was impossible to pronounce for anyone, not Osgo; although everyone really liked the nickname that Gullbani has given to him; was an [Osgo Raider] not really a surprise, a stronger, more cunning and brutal variation of a violent race.

The Dark Elf male, Sumur, was a magician, with the Crest, he was completely useless, one of the Dark Elf females, Azzarary, was in similar situation, she was a Priest of Manat, with the Crest, she lacked any magical powers.

There were little more surprises, the Gnolls Ish and Ihs were [Gnoll warriors], as they are twins, a rare occurrence in the Gnolls, they almost share a mind; the other Osgo, Jark, was an [Osgo Soldier], very skilled with the Polearm, the Hobgoblins were recently evolved goblins, from their base to the [Hobgoblin] base variation, without any surprises or hidden talents. In all, they are disappointing, considering the monsters that were at their sides, but a Hobgoblin was stronger than the average human, and in the Coliseum that was always welcome, just to made the battle last a little longer.

Gullbani kept his telepathic skills in secret, with the complicity of Magni, and revealed his [Pyrokinesis], [Webbing] and supposedly [Poison Bite], that was in truth [Spit Poison] applied to the teeth of his mouth. Gullbani had no problems in telling that he was a [Dragonkin Overlord] as it was a unique variation that not even the Dragon Empire has seen before, and his supposed main set of skills was sealed by the Crest.

Wikóc appeared to be delighted for the discoveries, although, he frowned a little at the magical sealing of those that had magic, a spellcaster slave was an expensive thing, he looked a bit confused about why the Dark Elves were sealed.

It was not a secret that the Dark Elves; especially the females; are looked upon for brothels and personal servants of rich individuals, like other very physically appealing races; at last from the human standards of beauty; Dark Elves were on the beautiful side of the balance. Sealing the magic of a Dark Elf female and tossing her into a Gladiators Schools seemed like a total waste for the Cyclops. It was quite different from the case of Aneesa, as the woman was more than a capable fighter, and the Crest did nothing to seal her martial progress. She only needed blades and all was fine.

The Cyclops took mental note of asking Lycaios about the topic during the evening meeting; it was puzzling him. Anyhow, from the perspective of Wikóc, they are some very interesting diamonds among the coal. Truth to be told, on a perfect world, he would have loved to have the magic of all his prospective gladiators at his disposal, but it was a pipe dream, unless he mentally dominated them completely, a feat that will require all his concentration and even then, they will be a shadow of the fighters they were.

Dominating one or two puppets to dance at his tune; if they are not especially strong-willed; like the [Osgo Raider] or the [Hobgoblins] was a piece of cake, trying to dominate Aneesa, Magni or the [Dragonkin Overlord]; the first he ever saw; would be quite the challenge and even if he managed to do it, Wikóc would need all his concentration to keep them dominated.

The third day started with the quick recovery of Ihs and the Kobold, a female specimen that was called Murmur, and belonged to the Stormrage Clan of the Dragon Empire. The Kobold was totally attached to Gullbani like a loyal pet would do, and she was eager to do any task that the [Dragonkin Overlord] had for her. It has to be said, that Wikóc considered the kindness that Gullbani was showing to the little Kobold, a complete waste, but the Cyclops was a shrewd bastard and knew that the fanatically devoted Kobold was the perfect slave and spy. Kobolds and Goblins are relatively common as servants in charge of menial chores and works that no one liked or wanted; thanks to that, they are almost invisible for the leaders of the city; the little vermin can go back and forth and no one would pay any attention to their escapades.

But what broke a little the mental schemes of Mikóc was how Gullbani made clothes for everyone in his little group; that consisted in roughly half of the slaves present; from the webbing he can create so freely, skillfully manipulating and threading the webbing, he can create an entire set of clothes, in red, golden, black and metal gray. As slaves they were dressing little more than drags or ragged tunics, or nothing at all in the case of Gullbani; so, comfortable, warm, sturdy and waterproof clothes were a blessing.

Even Groanok asked Gullbani for some clothes for him and the Polearm user Osgo, they, at last, had the decency of thanking him and leave him alone, instead of trying to provoke him at every corner, like Barky was doing. It was an instinctual thing, Barky knew that Gullbani was the Alpha here, and Barky couldn't stand it, he needed to be the boss, his instincts and desires obliged him for it.

The Dark Elves and Magni were the ones that appreciated more the clothes, contrary to the other races, their skin was not adequate to be around half naked or with ragged clothes. Practically all the morning of the third day become a little fashion parade, with the Dark Elves and Magni asking Gullbani for specific clothes. Gullbani had all the experience he needed when he fashioned his own clothes, back at the Stormrage Clan Den and created the gambesons and the [Thieve´s Gambeson], the challenge of creating what the slaves were requesting from him was welcome and he gets to it, dressing them all as good as he could.

In all, he had to admit that he did a decent job; he was not tailor, by any means, but thanks to his Campione soul memories, he was capable of crafting something very akin to the common clothes that he wore as Nordmanni; surprisingly similar to the Asgardian Kingdom trending clothes; Magni was delighted to have something so close to home and the Dark Elves, simply enjoyed the fact that they have clothes now, Ish and Ihs just wanted some sturdy pants and a jacket, their fur will get in the way otherwise.

Magni confessed that it was almost like he was back at home; different set of colors, as he preferred blues and golden, but the tunic and pants were exactly like back home; similarly dressed, the Dark Elves recognized that the red was a very nice color for them, and the tunics that they wore; except Aneesa, who wore black pants, as a tunic would get in the way of her fighting style; were as comfortable as they can get. Gullbani crafted some black pants and a sleeveless long coat to the knees in black and golden.

At the end of the third day, it was clear that something was wrong, Wikóc appeared to be in a very bad humor and for a sadist like him, that means that someone was going to suffer a lot and that the plans that he and Lycaios had for them were not going to happen as he was expecting. As soon as he reunited all of them, he dropped the bomb, not really enjoying the suspense and the tension that he liked to collect from them each time he had an idea and used them as guinea pigs.

Wikóc informed them that all of them are going to fight in the Coliseum the next day, no exceptions, a challenge has been issued by a rival manager and Lycaios had to accept it or appear weak in front of the Governor and the possible clients. The challenger was Cómodo Remo, a prestigious former Gladiator and now manager of a school; not a slave but a noble from one of the families that founded the Southern Empire along the First Jusar; that always had a rivalry going on with Lycaios, as both provided the best gladiators that Hesperusa had.

Usually, it was a friendly rivalry more than anything else, but on the last week, with the disaster that took place in the war against the Dragon Empire, Cómodo had their best fighters on the Legions, as a loan, once the invasion was crushed, he has lost practically all of them. Cómodo urgently needed good fighters or cull down the quality of the other Schools, so he did not lose face in front of the populace and the clientele.

The poor sucker that was going to be their first victim, was none other than Lycaios, who was in a similar state but has managed to replenish his number faster than Cómodo and had half a dozen more fighters than him. However, that numbers took into account all of them, Murmur included, and that was saying something about the desperation that the Gladiator managers had. They are hard-pressed to keep appearing that they can provide the Coliseum with adequate entertainment.

Essentially?. It was going to be a royal rumble between the two Schools, a no-hold-barrel match between all their gladiators and the Lycaios gladiators.

In resume?. It was going to be a bloody massacre.

In any other circumstances, Wikóc would have enjoyed the horror and nervousness that permeated the barracks when the gladiators knew of such destinies, however, in this occasion, it would mean that they could exit the Coliseum grounds crippled, and unable to present any champion to the regular games that the Governor enjoyed a lot. Almost one per week or even more, depending on the petitions and the money that the patrons deposited in the Coliseum offices to promote an event.

They all could see that the barracks could easily give shelter to a hundred of possible trainees; showing the prosperous business that the Lycaios School have before the disaster that struck the Southern Imperial Legions; Slave Legions or not; in the invasions of the Dragon Empire and the Asgard Kingdom.

In fact, and this little tidbit; taken from the rumblings of Wikóc; the more luxurious and comfortable private quarters for successful gladiators were empty right now, as the previous elite of Lycaios were killed in the war. The Legion has compensated all the gladiator´s owners generously, but even if they had the money to buy more possible gladiators, it takes time to train them into shape, even if they are already talented warriors like Aneesa or Groanok. Not to mention how Cómodo had his own ace under his sleeve, as the bastard was famous for being capable of tame dangerous beasts like Gryphons or Manticores.

Supposedly, Cómodo had a [Monster Tamer] Job or one of his crew had it, such a talented individual that could tame the aforementioned monsters and made them fight in the Coliseum along their own gladiators.

Now that picked up the attention of Gullbani; as far as he was concerned, such news only means one single thing.

More possible powers to be Usurped.

Monsters always have brought him, nice hauls of useful abilities; instead of showing any kind of worry, Gullbani was smiling like children all the time. It frankly confused Wikóc; and the rest; even after he did a quick mental reading, only to confirm that, indeed, Gullbani was eager to face whatever Cómodo had in his pens. Such positive and a bit bloodthirsty attitude had a positive and negative effect in the rest of the prospective gladiators. Some thought that they are going to hide behind the golden Dragonkin, and let it enjoy the horror to his heart content, on the other hand, some thought that the farther they are from the crazy Dragonkin, the better.

It was impossible to determine what hour it was under there, except the lanterns that dim their lights during the "night", but as soon as the black skinned Cyclops entered into the barracks, everyone knew that it was time to face the music.

There were several emotions running rampant in the slaves around Gullbani, the ones that stay calm and prepared for the battle where those that had some kind of previous military training; namely Magni, Aneesa and Gullbani. The rest were either a bunch of nerves, like the Dark Elves, who were part of the support personnel of the Slave Legions or more avid of blood like the Osgos and the Hobgoblins, whose careers and raiders and bandits were the reason why they ended in this mess.

The Gnoll twins and Groanok were surprisingly calm, the former thanks to the discipline they had as part of the pack of Gullbani and the latter because he has accepted whatever fate could throw at him with sad resignation.

Once they were ready, they were guided by Wikóc into the hallways that they traveled the first time they entered into the Coliseum, but this time they climbed a different set of stairs, reaching a big hallway were dozens of weapon racks, hold real weapons and armors for them to use. In the same way that the racks that Lycaios had in his training grounds, this racks contained all the weapons that the Hesperusa Coliseum has ever seen. Blades, armors, helmets, pretty much anything that any warrior could need to prepare itself to battle; Wikóc show them the racks and mentally ordered them to arm themselves.

Rushing inside, every slave started to look out for their favored weapons and armor; there was more than enough for everyone. Without any hurry; as Gullbani knew that most of the armors around were of human, perhaps taller humans, sized and would do little favor to him; the golden Dragonkin observed the few cuirasses that were exposed in some mannequins and sighed.

As he suspected, those were no good, well Gullbani hoped to get his hands in some good mail or even a cuirass, but his own reinforced long coat would have to do the trick, for the moment. Although, it was a nice surprise to see that he could wear some graves and a heart protector under the coat. It was a piece of steel that covered the heart, fastened to the body by a leather strip; a very common piece of armor for gladiators.

Gullbani and Magni shared a smile when both grabbed a couple of sturdy rounds shields, they were not exactly the Asgardian shields that they knew and loved, but they were an adequate replica. Magni picked up a heavy spiked mace, and Gullbani a sharp Dane ax. The Dane ax was a hand ax for Gullbani, as he was taller than the five feet and half weapon by a three feet margin. Widening an eye and smiling in amusement, Gullbani silently pointed out how Aneesa was amounting an arsenal on her person.

Aneesa was a [Blade Dancer] that means that she can control, via [Telekinesis], all kind of blades and mixing dancing and fighting, turn herself into a whirlwind of death. Right now, she has strapped two nasty looking, one edged, curved and serrated daggers to her lower back, two short swords to her back, two double-edged steel daggers to her waist and was checking the sharpness and weight of another pair of serrated daggers like the ones she had on her lower back. Those were cruel and vicious weapons, they may not look like it, but the wounds that those blades could cause would be a nightmare to heal, and impossible to stitch.

As everyone prepared as much as they could, Gullbani had to admit that he was excited, it was a nice way to celebrate his first week as [Dragonkin Overlord], to collect some extra powers from his enemies in this Coliseum that the Southern Empire has been so kind of caging him within.

As the gates of the entrance to the Coliseum battlegrounds opened and the roar of the thousands of spectators hit them like a wave, Gullbani started to laugh, an honest, joyous laugh, now this was what he was talking about. Laying the handle of his Dane ax over his right shoulder and carrying his shield with the left hand, Gullbani strutted into the grounds, never losing his predatory smile.

 **End Chapter.**

 **Character Info:**

 **Name:**

Carnage "Carn" Runescales of the Stormrage Clan. Gullbani of the Brimstone Clan

 **Race:**

Dragonkin Overlord Level 3

 **Unique Skills:**

-Circle of Usurpation: Much like the Authority, Carn can steal a Skill/Authority/Trait from the body of a defeated enemy, but only if it has been defeated by him.

-Divine´s Bane: As former Devil King, Carn is the bane of any divine spellcaster or divine creature.

-We want grandbabies!- Pandora and Epimeteo wanted grandbabies to spoil, like it or not, Carn would have a harem.

 **Skills/Traits/Abilities.**

-God of Magic: Carn can learn any kind of magic, thanks to the Blessing of Pandora.

-Oldest soul: Carn had all the memories of Magnus Blacksson, the strongest and Oldest Campione of a bygone era. As magic comes from the soul, he had a godly reserve of magic to fuel his spells.

-Arcane System:

-Earth Magic Tier 4 1- [Echo]/ 2-[Metal sense]/3-[Earthcraft]/4-[Earth Armor]

-Sky Magic Tier 1 1-[Feather fall]

-Body Magic Tier 4 1-[Buff]/2-[Heal]/3-[Regenerate]/4-[Cleanse]

-Mind Magic Tier 1 1-[Zero Mind]

-Abyss Magic Tier 4 1-[Night Spear]/2-[Dark Mantle] /3-[Abyssal walker]/4-[Absorbing Abyss]

-Death magic Tier 1 1-[Death senses]

-Necromancy affinity Tier 4 1/2/3 [Summon Undead Servants Skeletons/Shadow Skeletons/Draugr]/ 4- [Undead Thrall]

-Ritual System:

-Unseen Servant: Carn can summon a Servant that acts as Steward, cleaning crew, cook, and infinite warehouse. He called the androgynous being of pure magic, Carravers It does have the sense of humor of an English butler.

-Algiz: Provides Magic Resistance (Arcane, Divine, and Ritual But NO Kinesis) for nine hours/days/years to a maximum of nine individuals depending on the magic power, components, sacrifices, etc.

-Revenant: Creates a powerful undead servant called Revenant.

-Requiem: Destroys an undead and releases its soul to whatever afterlife it was supposed to go.

-Unblemished Copyist: Creates a perfect replica of a non-magical text, drawing, etc.

-Fratricide: Kills an individual and all its blood progeny, no matter the generation.

-Crest of the Slave: Carnage can mark an individual with a mark that would make It a slave, with any configuration that Carnage put in the Crest.

 **Usurped Skills/Traits/Abilities/etc:**

 **Skills:**

-Pyrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural fire.

-Electrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural electricity.

-Acidkinesis: Carn can create and manipulate dangerous acids.

-Telepathy: Carnage can communicate via telepathy to creatures that shared a language with him.

 **Blessings:**

-Blessing of Pandora: Pandora never forgets her children. Carnage´s tale has been altered to a transcendental path.

-Blessing of Epimeteo: Pandora is happy, Epimeteo is happy. Carnage´s tale has been altered to a transcendental path.

-Red Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the redhead of Tiamat, Carn domain over fire is way superior to the rest of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Green Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the green head of Tiamat, Carn is the best poisoner of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Black Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the black head of Tiamat, Carn is the best Necromancy user of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

 **Traits:**

-Webbing: Carn can generate natural webbing of three colors steel, gold and red, he can project it from fingertips, mouth, tail tip and ass.

-Spit Poison: Carn can spit poison of varying virulence.

-Poisonproof: Carn is immune to all natural poison and highly resistant against magical poisoning

-Walk Walls: As a spider, Carn can walk barehanded/footed over non-slippery/wet surfaces

-Spiderkin: All Spiders considers Carn one of them, thanks to the effect of the [We want Grandbabies] bless, all female Arachnes found Carn specially Alluring.

-Stone Mimetic: Took the appearance, texture, and smell of the surrounding rocks, but not his hardness.

-Fireproof: Carn is immune to all kind of natural fire and highly resistant against magical fire.

-Blindsight: Perfect, 360º sight at 10 meters, no matter the conditions.

-Stone carving claws: 12 inches twin stingers from his forearms capable of cutting and carving stone with easiness.

-Mimetic: Carn can mimetic with the environment, better than any chameleon would do.

-Corrosive Stench: Carn could generate acid, nauseate and acid sweat.

-Hardened scales: Carn´s scale hardness is massively increased.

-Blood drinker: Carn can absorb the blood of his preys, healing himself from even crippling wounds.

-Elasticity: Carn can make his body as elastic as a pile of goo, without losing any strength or resistance.

-Tireless body: As soon as his magic can keep exhaustion at bay, Carn will not tire.

-Sharp scales: Carnage scales could turn sharp and edgy, wounding anything that touched them without protection.

-Might of the predator: Carnage muscles are denser, stronger and more durable than they should, giving him strength, way beyond his size.

-Ghostkin: Ghosts, specters, phantoms and other apparitions, consider Carnage Kin and do not molest him. Thanks to the effect of [We want Grandbabies!], all female apparitions found Carn, specially Alluring.

-Multidexterity: Hands, feet, tail, tentacles, tongue; no matter, Carn can use any appendage as it was his good hand.

-Feel No Pain: Carnage could tune out any sensation of pain, numbing his nerves and pushing beyond his limits; suffering the drawback, of course.

-Myrmidon Royalty: At the eyes of the Myrmidons, Carnage is a mix between a Royal Guard and the Queen of the Hive; the ultimate peak of the Hive. Carnage has bound his destiny to the Tale of the Golden Apple Tree watcher.

-Regeneration: Carnage can regenerate even the most grievous wounds, except acid, fire, and pesticides.


	9. Gladiator II

**5.2 Gladiator II**

It was deafening.

The roar and cheer of the thousands of spectators hit the Gladiators of the Lycaios School like a solid wave of sound, deafening and surprising them. Gullbani basked in the sounds, even if he didn't like to admit it; his Campione soul enjoyed this shows of admiration and awe. Campiones are supreme, and like supreme beings, they are to be feared, revered and respected all in one. This was a nice beginning, but Gullbani knew that it was too soon to be acclaimed like that; he still has to become a Campione, if such a thing was possible in this world.

The Tale of the Transcendence Path that he has acquired after he became a Dragonkin, suggested that it was possible to transcend the mortal limits, even beyond the peak of the evolutionary path of his Kin, the Dragon.

Perhaps the deities of this world are beings that walked that same path of Transcendence and became something akin to gods. It was a possibility, back in his day, Magnus the Campione suspected that some of the myths of the world are based on Campiones whose actions upon the mortal world caused such reverberation that they became part of the legends of a civilization, and by such, being able to be conjured into the world as [Heretic Gods]. Food for the thought, something to consider on a later date.

Right now Gullbani had a Coliseum to conquer.

Credit when its due, the Coliseum was a marble of engineering. Gullbani could not make an exact number, but he was sure that there must be thousands of people in the layers of stone benches that surrounded the ground where he and the rest of his fellow slaves were walking into the sterile but natural terrain of the main battleground of the Coliseum. For this occasion, they are fighting into the compact earth, with some protuberances of stone here and there to provide a semblance of cover and high position for any long-range fighter.

The high walls of the ground separated them from the populace, the walls were about thirty feet tall and even without any magical senses, the Imperial hymns written into the edges, was proof that there was some kind of barrier, that would prevent any loose projectile hit the public of the battles.

The same black stone that made the majority of the Coliseum was present in the wall and the benches of the public, however, the hymns that glowed slightly from time to time, were protected by dozens of Legionaries that surrounded some zones. They quickly realized that those were the VIP zones, when one of the balconies was tremendously more decorated than the rest, with red carpets, cushions, and slaves carrying trays of food and drinks for the humans that were taking sit or laying in the long couches that faced to the ground on the Coliseum.

Gullbani could not understand a word of what the public was saying, but the tone of the shouts was of cheer and roars of getting with it already. The Coliseum did seem to be quite the popular entertainment here. Anyhow, the public was a mix of humans, some monsters here and there, and hundreds of slaves; easily recognizable for their crests, chains and other paraphernalia that mark them as such; attending the needs of their masters. Banners and other symbols flapped in the lazy wind of the morning, showing the symbol of Lycaios and Cómodo, curiously, both had wolves in their School symbols.

It was a cloudy day, not menacing rain, but enough to keep the shadows and the sun, changing places often, the weather was warm and the fresh air was welcomed by the slaves, that has been three days locked into an underground lair, in order to see who among them were possible gladiators. In the end, all of them were needed to save the face of the School that they belong, even if it was clear that the priest and the wizard were completely useless now; without their magic, they were sitting ducks.

With a curious glance, Gullbani realized that there was another Dark Elf in the VIP section, his eyes were capable to see the white-haired, tanned skin of the woman, who was dressing a golden cuirass of Legate and was chatting; impossible to hear or even read lips at this distance; with a big, burly, bald and long-bearded man with a rich tunic and fingers covered in, expensive rings.

Lycaios and a dark-haired man of wolfish traits were eyeing each other like they were about to rip each other's throats at the slightest provocation.

A Horn distracted Gullbani of this mussing, as he strutted confidently in the open space of the Coliseum grounds, the battleground was oval shaped, about one hundred and thirty feet long and eighty feet wide. Spacious enough for a lot of gladiators to kill each other without molesting other fights in the process, or for tossing a big fella into the grounds and made him turn any gladiator into paste or lunch, depending on what kind of monster do they unleash into the Coliseum grounds for the entertainment of the Southern Empire citizens.

Looking for the origin of the sound, Gullbani saw the massive horns that crowned a corner, in the edges of the upper balconies, being blown by a trio of ogres that made them echo with a trumpeting sound. Gullbani observed his companions and turn to Magni, Groanok, and Aneesa, they are the ones that spoke Norse; before the gate at the other side of the Coliseum ground opened and release their rivals.

"Anyone of you had military experience?". Asked to all of them, Gullbani suspected that Aneesa and Magni were part of the armies of their countries.

"We served in the Slave Legions". Spat in the floor Sumur, and the rest of the Dark Elves grimaced. "Aneesa was our Decurion, but we were support personnel, Azzaray and I were support and logistic".

"I was in the army". Confessed Magni, strapping the shield tighter to his arm. "Part of a group of Hirdman that defended the frontiers".

"My tribe was exterminated by slavers". Shrugged Groanok, as if he was talking about the weather. "Beyond some basic training as a warrior for my tribe, nothing else".

"I was under Storm commands in Fort Orchid". Said Murmur and Gullbani smiled, the Kobold was loyal as it can be, and has said nothing of who Gullbani, truly was.

Gullbani was expecting something along those lines, but the revelation of the destiny of the tribe of Groanok was unexpected, well, perhaps the troll was expecting to die in the battleground today, and wanted someone to remember him, even if it was in the passing. The situation was not good, there was not a lot of warriors among them and somehow, Gullbani suspected that Cómodo has not called this challenge unless he had a serious ace under his sleeve.

"Anessa, you were a Decurion, took everyone except me, and set them into a defensive formation". Loosened a bit his neck Gullbani, fearing the worst. "I will be hunting down any monster or powerful variant that Cómodo may have under his sleeve". Ordered the Dragonkin. "Magni, please translate for the twins and before you ask, Barky and his group could rot in hell for what I care, he is already trying to put a semblance of order among his Hobgoblins and I seriously doubt that they are going to collaborate in anything".

"Aye". Simply nodded Magni, twirling the spiked mace he has picked from the armory, familiarizing with the weapon. It was far from the hammer that he would have loved to have in his hands, but it was a solid weapon. After that, he turned to the Gnolls and after a short discussion, the twins seem to understand what he wanted from them.

"I am not prepared for that". Confessed Aneesa, even if the other Dark Elves did trust her. "I failed once, you know? that´s why we are all here".

"No one is prepared". Shrugged Gullbani. "Shit happens, deities had a dark sense of humor and we all ended with the worst possible tattoo on our asses". Resumed the Dragonkin, laying the Dane ax handle over his shoulder. "Now, we can surrender and die or fight fangs and claws to live another day; I will fight thank you". Laughed Gullbani with dark humor.

"Murmur, stay with them". Hissed in Dragon language Gullbani to Murmur. "They need your eyes, keep to their shadows and stab anything that tries to blindside them".

"It shall be done, Benevolent One". Nodded Murmur solemnly, making Gullbani smile and shook his head. That benevolent thing was starting to get a bit out of whack.

Once the gate at the other side of the ground of the Coliseum opened, Gullbani widened an eye and listened to the muffled curses of his companions. On a side note, Barky, the polearm user Osgo and the Hobgoblins have formed their own little band of warriors, keeping a distance from him and the rest of the slaves. Pity, Gullbani could have used the shields that the majority of them carried, and form a good shield wall.

After what Cómodo has unleashed at them, it would have been a very welcome defense.

The numbers were not equal, that was the first thing that came to the mind of Gullbani as he eyed the opposition that exited through the gate on the opposite side of the battlegrounds. The second thing that Gullbani thought was how, unless a bloody miracle happened, his group is going to suffer some heavy losses. And the third thing was what kind of powers was he going to usurp from the enemies that stood at the other side of the battleground.

A dozen Hobgoblins; without armor, just a fur loincloth and some red tattoos over their brown skin; armed with swords, axes, pickaxes and such, were being pushed outside by a ten feet tall Minotaur of red fur, equally half-naked, and carrying and executioner´s ax in his hands.

Behind them, half a dozen of Gnolls, almost naked and armed with two-handed axes and maces, were dragged away by another red furred Minotaur with a nicked bladed cleaver almost as tall as him. Slumping and babbling incoherently all this time, a ball of green, nauseatingly green, flesh, stumped into the ground.

A bloody Swamp Troll, judging from how the ugly hybrid between a troll and a fat baby, was fourteen feet tall and fat as hell, he must be some kind of variation.

"May Pandora and Tiamat protect you all". Smirked Gullbani and charged ahead, facing head on the frenzied gladiators.

Gullbani needed to take out the most dangerous of them, the frenzied Gnolls and the Minotaur, and then keep going and block the path of the green mass of flesh and filth. A Swamp Troll was a nightmare; a common pest in the Swampmist and Grimmwhisper Clans domains; they had an infinite appetite, they are living, walking tanks of acid lard and regenerative flesh, and what´s worst, they had nothing but hunger in their pea-sized brains.

More than an evolution of the Goblin and Troll races, this was an involution, however, from time to time, a clever one appears, and when that happens, all hell broke loose. This one did not seem of the clever variant, but a mumbling piece of hunger, that could crush a barn with a single slap and then ate what remains of it.

With a violent swing of his ax, Gullbani looped the head of the first Gnoll in his way; the beast was about to raise its own weapon, but it was too late, and his head flew several meters behind his body. Ramming the body with his shield, Gullbani pushed forward, pushing and breaking the charge of the Gnolls and the Minotaur, that stopped to face the nearest victim.

In this case, Gullbani.

There was something odd in the rabid state that his gladiators were, there was something completely wrong with their smells and bodies. Gullbani lacked his magical senses, but his [Blindsigth] has enhanced his mundane senses enough, to the ability to discern that this was not the common state of these races. Not even the Gnolls or the Minotaurs, one of the most warrior oriented races that the Southern Empire enslaved.

Gullbani blocked a strike from the left; sensing how the shield crunched dangerously under the impact of the weapon that has hit it; between his own [Hardened Scales] and powerful body as [Dragonkin Overlord] his arm didn't even buckle a millimeter; and instead of counterattacking, Gullbani jumped back, dodging another set of strikes from the sides, aimed at his back and left side. The Minotaur roared and smashed his nicked blade against the floor of the Coliseum, sending earth flying everywhere.

Recovering position, Gullbani deflected an incoming strike of another ax, kicked the knee of the Gnoll; crushing it; and once the Gnoll feel forward, Gullbani slit its throat with easiness, severing its neck to the bone. Unfortunately, he needed a second to retire the blade of his ax from the corpse and that second, was more than enough for another Gnoll to smash its mace against the back of Gullbani. The strike was enough to make him feel to his knees, no Gnoll should be this strong, not naturally at last, so either they are drugged to the core or empowered by some outside magic.

Supposedly; judging from what Wikóc tell them; another Gladiator School was staking a lot in this duel, trying to impress and eliminate competition all in one. Gullbani could admire and understand such tactics, and to ensure the result of the duel, the numbers were mismatched and something has been applied or infused or given to the Cómodo School of Gladiators.

Well, Gullbani could understand the trickery, but at the same time, he didn't like it at all. If they are going to fight, that was totally okay in his book, but using drugs, magic or whatever in a duel or a battle that involved magically sealed slaves like them that was something not only unfair but directly criminal.

Grinning his teeth, Gullbani uppercut the jaw of the attacking Gnoll with his shield and when the Gnoll was sent flying with the jaw crushed into a bloody mess, Gullbani grab it by the leg and in a show of strength, he used the Gnoll to bash the other Gnolls, making the charging Minotaur trip and lost the inertia that he carried. Finally, taking his axe from the body of the Gnoll, Gullbani charged against them; taking them a bit by surprise, or at last the ones that were not so high in his cocktail of whatever, that were able to think somehow straight; and slammed his shield against the snout of the stumbled Minotaur, sending the massive bull-man to the ground with a roar of pain and its snout covered in blood.

Burying the blade of the ax in another of the Gnolls, Gullbani felt the blades of the remaining left, bit deeply into his coat, and cutting his flesh. They have managed to draw blood and that only made him smile widely, at last, a bloody challenge.

With his reversal, Gullbani cut another Gnoll from shoulder to hip and with his; already in the verge of breaking; round shield, deflected another strike from the last Gnoll, kicking it in the stomach and sending it tumbling several steps back.

Ignoring the ax in the body of the fallen, Gullbani punched the head of the Gnoll with all his might, and taking advantage of the inertia generated in the movement, he twirled and slammed the side of the shield against the same spot, sending the Gnoll to the floor. Meanwhile, his flesh regenerated thanks to the [Regeneration] trait, Gullbani used his shield as mace, crushing the head of the Gnoll into chunky pieces of flesh, bone and brain matter.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Alpha Gnoll: Insatiable Libido trait Usurped]._

" _Wait, what? By Pandora, what the hell is this? is this some kind of joke?"._ Froze Gullbani dumbfounded for a second, with the battered shield ready for another strike, slowly dripping blood and brain matter, with one of the eyes of the Gnoll hanging from a splinter, by the fleshy optic nerve.

 _[Pandora: What the Tartarus?, well, now I know why the Gnolls are as numerous and the goblins in the Southern Empire]._

" _Is not funny, mom…"_. Any thought after that was lost when the recovering Minotaur slashed the back of Gullbani with his cleaver, ripping the sturdy coat and leaving a long and nasty gash all over the golden scales and skin of Gullbani, biting deeply into the scales and flesh of the Dragonkin.

The cut carried enough momentum to send Gullbani flying ahead; losing the already broken shield on his left hand and made him fall onto the floor. The burn of his back was a painful one, but then the trait of [Feel No Pain] come in and turned the crippling sensation into a faint numb on his back. Seriously pissed off with himself for losing focus like that, Gullbani stood up, unharmed, and roared in defiance to the Minotaur, who roared back at him and charge ahead, swinging his cleaver into a devastating mid-swing that should have cleaved Gullbani in half.

Bending backwards in a way that should have been impossible for a being like him; the nicked and bloodied edge of the cleaver passed at a milliliter of his face, as soon as the blade passed, Gullbani recovered and like a spring, he carried all the strength he could, to give a step forward; and straightening his hand like it was a knife; stab the jugular of the Minotaur. [Elasticity] and [Might of the Predator] allowed Gullbani to pull a stunt like that, burying his hand to the wrist into the surprisingly hard skin of the Minotaur. The momentum of the Minotaur send them tumbling into the ground, and Gullbani took advantage of being buried under the bigger mass of the Minotaur, to erupt his stingers out and slash the throat of the Minotaur, cutting even into the bones of the neck.

The corpse of the Minotaur slammed him against the wall, carried by the inertia he had, taking the air out of Gullbani lungs. Smashing against an unbreakable wall of magically reinforced stone was never nice, however, Gullbani tossed the corpse to the side, in another show of strength, and recovered his breath. This Minotaur was more resilient than he expected and the hand that he has used for stabbing his jugular; a mix of [Hardened scales], [Elasticity], [Sharp Scales] and [Might of the Predator], was still sore and numb. The flesh of this red furred Minotaur thing was as hard as brass and equally hard to stab.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Wrathpath Minotaur: Brass Body trait Usurped]._ Well, that answer the origin of the unnatural sturdiness of the bastard.

If it wasn't for Gullbani´s own supernatural enhancements and the traits that he has usurped previously, he would have been hard-pressed to do any damage to this monster, that would treat common weapons as little more than nuisances. Wrathpath Minotaur, Gullbani took mental note of checking out that variation, something on it did not sit well with him.

Raising from the floor, Gullbani shook his head and ripped the ragged coat and useless chest armor that he was wearing, the impacts that he has suffered from the Gnolls and the cleaver of the red furred Minotaur have rendered them useless, along with the shield that he had carried from the Coliseum armory. With the chest naked, he was only wearing his pants, boots, and graves, showing how his wounds were not bleeding anymore, as they were covered in a thick crust of coagulated blood. As the crust fall, the wounds were already healed; [Regeneration] was a bloody Pandora´s send.

Grabbing the massive cleaver of the fallen Minotaur, Gullbani put it over his shoulders and stared at the troll, that has been slowly walking to him and was chewing happily the corpses of the Gnolls, eating the corpses in hungry and nauseating sloppy manners, tossing his poisonous and acidic spit all over around.

Whenever the spit touched the ground, the earth sizzled and smoked in repulse, showing how highly acidic the drooling retarded beast truly was. It may have the intelligence of a retarded baby, but it was fifteen feet tall ball of brutal strength, poison, and acid, capable of devouring a cow in seconds. Leaning the cleaver over his shoulders, Gullbani raised one of his hands and focused on creating a powerful fireball.

The Crest had his [Arcane System] mastery locked, but do nothing to prevent his [Kinesis] or traits to manifest, and that was a very good thing, otherwise, he had little doubt that even a variant of Dragonkin like him would be in serious problems to survive this little ambush that, that Cómodo fellow, has set up for Lycaios.

Once the fireball was the size of a human head, Gullbani tossed it to the back of the head of the gluttonous troll; the fireball exploded over the back of its bald head and a good portion of its back.

Even from that distance, the smell of burnt flesh and the pungent smell of the filth and toxic secretions of the skin of the troll reached the nose of Gullbani and almost made him puke. The Troll did cry in surprise, waddling his long arms around like massive flails, trying to slap whatever has attacked him; when he turned around completely; Gullbani could saw that it still have pieces of the Gnolls bodies that he has been devouring, hanging from his mouth, chewing on the broken corpses like a retarded baby would do over a piece of food.

The Troll spotted him and with a loud bawl; it could be considered as a war cry; the Troll lost the food on his mouth and charged against Gullbani, covering the distance with easiness thanks to his size and ready to pound Gullbani into dust.

Unfortunately for the Troll, Gullbani was more than ready for it, and when the first paddle of a hand, went down for him, he counterattacked with the big cleaver that he was looted from the Wrathpath Minotaur. Swinging it upwards, it traced a bloody and nasty gash over the hand and arm of the Troll, sending pieces of blood and flesh flying around. Bawling in pain again, the Troll did something unexpected and kicked him in the chest.

The kick was a desperate move, but totally unexpected and Gullbani took it directly on the chest. Even with his reinforcements, he felt how a couple of ribs cracked under the impact. Gullbani body flew against the stone wall of the arena, slamming his back against it for the second time. Gullbani managed to do not lost the cleaver in the process and quickly recovered from the unexpected strike. This Troll was starting to get on his nerves.

As Gullbani felt how his ribs recomposed, he could observe how the crying Troll regenerated his wounds at an impossible speed. Gullbani knew of the regeneration of these beasts, although he noticed that; as he knew from the Dragon Empire reports on them; the wounds from the fire did not heal fast, and were one of the few little things that could put them down permanently. The Troll frowned at Gullbani and charged again, with his healed hands ready to smash him.

Gullbani dodged the incoming, sloppy but powerful, punches and taking a stance, he swings the cleaver in a mid-swing, practically gutting the Troll. The stench of the innards of the Troll was enough to make him lost concentration, as his senses couldn't take the overwhelming putrid and acidic smell of the stomach fluids and blood of the Troll. Gagging in repulsion, Gullbani reacted too late to the hand that grabbed him by the arm and raise him from the floor into the mismatched mandibles of the troll.

Just the stench was more than enough to make Gullbani puke, but the mismatched teeth, fangs and crushing teeth of the Troll were falling over his body like grinders, crushing his scales, flesh, and bone under them, as the Troll was trying to chew him off.

The acid saliva and the horrid filth; poisonous and toxic; didn't help either, as it was trying to melt or corrode his body, making it easier for the Troll to devour him. The Troll used his hands to push more of the body of Gullbani into its mouth, trying to swallow him and devour him in one. Something impossible, as Gullbani was half his size and was not melting or envenoming himself with the toxic ambient of the bastard´s mouth.

Snarling mentally, Gullbani took out one of his stingers and dug it deeply into the throat of the Troll; much to Gullbani´s horror, the Troll puked his guts out at the intrusion and Gullbani become showered in a bath of acidic fluids from the stomach of the Troll, along half-digested pieces of the Gnolls and other things that he has eaten before the battle.

Not a pleasant experience.

Gullbani´s stinger was solidly nailed to the flesh of the Troll and his body was wounded by some twisted fangs, anchoring him to the mouth of the Troll, so he had to receive the assault of acid puke and pray to Pandora that his [Acidkinesis] and [Posionproof] were enough to keep him in one piece and not as a half-melted piece of broken meat.

The Troll was incoherently bawling, slapping the legs and back of Gullbani, and drooling acid and blood into the floor. In any other circumstances, it could have been even funny, in this situation, Gullbani found it less than amusing.

Gritting the teeth, Gullbani used the arm that has been nailed into the throat of the Troll to release as many flames as he could. Gullbani was going to made the fat bastard explode like an overinflated balloon. A torrent of flames charred the gullet and digestive path of the Troll until they hit the volatile acids on his stomach, and like a spark and gasoline, produced quite the explosive reaction.

With a final cry and his eyes popping out of the sockets, the Troll exploded in a tsunami of nasty lard, putrid blood, bones, organs, acid fluids and poisonous substances, sending Gullbani flying against the wall for the third bloody time in less than five minutes and covering him in the disgusting remnants of the exploded beast.

Gullbani listened to a very unpleasant crunch in his back. Feeling how his body was slammed against a harder surface and then, covered in acids and poisons, Gullbani counted his lucky stars for [Feel No Pain]. His skin and scales were smoking, as his regeneration did not protect him against acid, fortunately, he had [Acidkinesis] and could divert the worst of the acid, instead of ending like a walking Dragonkin skeleton.

Losing feet, Gullbani ended leaning against the wall of the Coliseum, with his hears turned into masses of twisted flesh and more wounds and damages on his body that he would have liked to count. [Feel No Pain] kick in and dulled it, allowing his body to start the regeneration and his mind to be focused enough, in case that his last stunts have not been enough.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Swamp Troll: Troll Regeneration]._ Gullbani was a bit surprised, it was even better than the trait that he picked up from the Queen of the Myrmidons, and more than welcomed right now, as the only weakness of this trait was fire, and Gullbani was practically fireproof except magical fire or some sub-branch of the [Fire Magic] main branch, like [Hellfire Magic] or something along those lines.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Swamp Troll: Devourer]._ A curious trait more than anything else, and useful for surviving long periods of time, in the middle of nowhere, it could lead to some disturbing visages for people that are not accustomed, like eating an armor or a sword.

In all, a very good haul of powers usurped. Pain has been the coinage of the exchange but it always was like that when the [Circle of Usurpation] was involved.

Sitting on the floor, Gullbani tried to recover his breath, the battles have been short but intense and his body has suffered a lot of damage. Gullbani was sure that very few, outside of full-fledged Dragons and Demigods, could have walked away from this mess with fewer damages than him.

Although, Gullbani scolded himself for the couple of occasions on where he has received damage and could have simply, dodged or even parried the strike. Resting against the wall, and hoping that his fellow gladiators were having better luck than him, he leaned one of his hands over the cold and black surface of the wall and push himself up.

Looking out for his cleaver, Gullbani recovered it from the ground and taking a deep breath, settle the massive blade over his shoulders and eyed his surroundings; cleaning himself with a shower of flames, form the chunks of the Troll corpse that still hung from his body; taking a moment to allow his new [Troll Regeneration] to deal with the damages that he has suffered from the battle with the [Swamp Troll]. Being chewed and puked in acid and venom was not something that he was eager to repeat. Just the smell has left him nauseated.

All his worries were ended and bring forth new ones when the horns of the Coliseum echoed over the roar of the populace; marking the end of the battle. As one of the voices of the Coliseum calls for the Victory of the Lycaios Gladiators, Gullbani was pretty much ignoring him, more worried about the status of his comrades in battle. The Hobgoblins that they had to fight were quite a challenge, especially for those among them that lacked formal, battle-oriented military training.

As he was pushed back into the slave barracks by a mental push of Wikóc, Gullbani soon realized how little of them were left, and how desperate Cómodo truly was.

From the seventeen that had walked into the Coliseum battlegrounds, only six were walking out. Magni, Groanok, Aneesa and the Gnoll twins, and none of them were without injuries. Ish has to carry Ihs by the shoulder as he had a broken leg, Magni was bruised and cut all over his broken armor, Groanok look like someone has carved his entire body with a chisel and Aneesa had a broken arm and half her face swollen and beaten.

And they were lucky to be alive.

No word was shared as exhaustion and the adrenaline rush faded, meanwhile Wikóc, who was obliviously exultant with the result, was guiding them back to the barracks, where some priests while be waiting for them to take care of their wounds. Later in the evening, Lycaios will move down, to congratulate them on the impossible victory that they had pulled from nowhere.

Impossible victory, indeed; after all, later, Gullbani discovered that Barky has betrayed them all, and joined the twenty Hobgoblins of Cómodo in their attack. Wikóc found the slave; in the kitchens of the barracks; that secretly gave the Hobgoblin a message, as it was the weakest link of the slaves in the Lycaios barracks, he had to betray his fellow prospect gladiators and Cómodo will grant him freedom and gold, once the battle was over.

It was a sad afternoon in the Lycaios barracks, they couldn't even put their friends and comrades to rest in peace, as the Coliseum gravediggers would take care of them. Gullbani took mental note of finding them, and if they did not do a good job, he would put them into a bloody grave, violently.

Aneesa was the one that took it the hardest, the Dark Elves that were slaves along her, trusted her completely, and she has led them to their deaths. Gullbani mourned Murmur in his own way, both the Dragon Empire and the Asgard Kingdom has a very pragmatical vision about death and simply said, that it was only death. It will found you when your day comes, do not rush to meet it, but neither try to dodge it, it was impossible and a foolish errand.

Wikóc was the one that was exultant, they had pulled a victory in impossible circumstances and that means that the reputation of Lycaios and Gladiatorial school was going to soar, not to mention how that would mean a lot more contracts and petitions for the services of the Gladiators that has survived an ambush that would have obliterated a Centuria of human Legionaries. Frankly, even Wikóc had to admit that he could have been killed too, if he had been among them, on the battlegrounds. Just the [Wrathpath Minotaurs]; a new variation that Wikóc has never seen before; was already bad news, but the frenzied Gnolls and the Troll, together? that was a death sentence.

But Wikóc was not stupid and knew perfectly well that the main reason for the miracle, was the presence of the [Dragonkin Overlord], the golden bastard managed to kill six Gnolls, one of the Minotaurs and the bloody Troll, all by himself. Gullbani did end partially devoured but somehow, he didn't look like it, at all.

The black-skinned Cyclops suspected that the Dragonkin was hiding a lot more than he revealed, perhaps the blessings of the Arachne priestess were not limited to poison bite and natural webbing. His [Pyrokinesis] was quite impressive as well, not really a surprise as the Dragonkin confessed that he was from the Brimstone Clan, fire lizards to the last of them; but the real shock has been the strength, durability, and skill that the bastard has shown, killing all his enemies and live to tell the tale, although, Wikóc realized that the strongest of the six survivors was the Asgardian.

The redhead Asgardian was capable of breaking the neck of a Minotaur with his bare hands, on the other hand, Aneesa was a tornado of sharp blades that has butchered the Hobgoblins to shreds, her blades floated and attacked at the same time as her, who was constantly on the move, always in a different position, faster than you can try to see her. The most disappointing, mind you, compared with the others, were the twins and the Troll. Sure, the Troll had massive strength and resilience, but little to none skill in wielding weapons; the twins are skilled and work well together, but that's it, separate them and they are like lost puppies looking for each other or their Alpha, in this case, Gullbani or Aneesa.

Seventeen walked in, six walked out. Now, that was a nasty cull of the weak, but Wikóc was happy, now he had the diamonds on the rough and it was only a matter of polishing them into legends of the Coliseum. It has been a while since there was really a Coliseum legend, with the thirty years of wars against the northern countries and the disaster of the Cold Sea.

The efforts of war had taken all available warriors to the battlefield, be it as Slave Legions or even as "Hero" Jobs. A [Champion of the Coliseum], was considered among the Jobs that equaled the "Hero" title and class; well, monsters like Wikóc or the majority of the slaves, evolved into powerful variants or even different races, it was a bit easier and complicated at the same time that the [Job System] that humans used.

Job or not, monsters are usually the ones that had the title; in a hundred years only five had reached such heights and the last ones were departed to the front lines where they were killed in action. In Wikóc opinion it was a complete waste of time and effort, training a Gladiator to such heights and then send them to a battlefield where everything could happen, was a mistake. But Jusar VIII has decreed so, and the word of the Emperor was bloody Gospel in the Southern Empire. It was an Empire, after all, the Emperor may have an auxiliary corps of bureaucrats and Governors to keep all the territories of the Empire in check and order, but whatever the Emperor wanted, the Emperor had it.

Except for the thirty years old war that he has lost in all fronts.

That has been quite the reality check for the Jusar Dynasty. To be completely honest, the Cyclops feared the Jusars, like it or not, they are Demigods, children of the gods that created the Southern Empire and ruled over them, very few are capable of withstanding the Emperor one on one, and all of those are as unique as him. Blessed champions of different deities, monsters beyond measure, etc.

That evening, after the survivors have been treated and had some time to shrug the adrenaline and the pain off, a very happy Lycaios entered the underground barracks. The slap that they had delivered to Cómodo has been an early birthday present for the man, and he was smiling all the way down to the barracks. The loss of so many Gladiators was the sore point of a brilliant actuation, as the populace was delighted with the brute force of Magni, the dexterity and skill of Aneesa and the unstoppable skills of Gullbani.

Although the higher kill count belong to Aneesa, who killed seventeen Hobgoblins and the one with the polearm, meanwhile Groanok flattened Barky like a pancake and Magni broke the neck of one of the Minotaurs with his bare-hands; it was needed a lot of pure muscle power to pull a stunt like that;

Lycaios promoted them to the superior barracks, the one that was close to the Grounds and had open spaces and private rooms for their favorite Gladiators. They have earned that privilege, and soon he will need the space for the all the appendices and other slaves that he was going to buy with the money he has earned in his little bet with Cómodo; who, by the way, was going to have a lot of problems to keep up with the rest of the School and will have to take some drastic measures to maintain the business at the level he has accustomed his clientele. Lycaios was a happy man, and as a happy and generous manager, he promoted them to the upper barracks.

The upper barracks were directly over the underground barracks, at the same level of the streets of Hesperusa; they can see the tops of the buildings from the open spaces, balconies, and yards that the private quarters had. There were ten private quarters; although none of them deluded themselves and were conscious that they were nothing but golden cages.

Guided by Lycaios himself; and parading them a little over the hallways of the Coliseum, in the noses of other managers and the few Gladiators that had to fight during the evening and the night battlers; their owner and manager give them a tour onto the facilities that would be their new homes for the foreseeable future. They are comfortable and spacious, so much they can see. The place had all the facilities that a group of Gladiators like them could desire to be always ready and prepare for battle.

From a forge to make their own weapons and armor to a big sparring circle where to train. Lycaios advised them that the competition for this ten posts was fierce in his School, any gladiator from the underground could challenge one of them for their position, and it was always a duel to the death. That was a bit of waste and a method to keep them always on their toes and never laze around. Lycaios wanted them to always be on the top of their game, otherwise, they are nothing but cattle to the slaughterhouse.

Their private quarters were surprisingly spacious, the beds were kings size and they were a couple of wardrobes and shelves for them to keep some belongings or trophies that they could have collected on the battleground. The meals were still communal although, with a similar setting than the underground barracks but with a lot better service and quality of the food. Instead of the generic grub that they ate in the underground barracks, here, they have a set of slaves in permanent service, cooking whatever they could want. A curious parody of the last meal tradition for those that are waiting for their execution. As gladiators, they could make some parallelism to that statement, as their next battle could be the last for what they known.

Six gladiators now lived in the elite barracks of the Lycaios School; even if Ish and Ihs lived together, occupying only one quarter; and even if they knew that they are nothing but slaves waiting for their execution in the Coliseum battlegrounds, Gullbani never surrendered and accepted the reality of his new life with the usual cold blood and pragmatism of his Kin.

Yesterday he was a respected warrior in the Dragon Empire, today he was a slave, tomorrow?, not even Pandora dared to foresee what could happen in the future, there are too many deities trying to get their hands in that pie since Kronos kicked the bucket.

Speaking of which, at last Gullbani managed to put his hands into some books that would explain better how to work the religion of the Southern Empire and their relationship with Pandora. The Dragon Empire did not dwell too much in religion, as they worship Tiamat and that´s it; however, a series of individuals have earned the trust and friendship of the Mother of Dragons.

Namely, Pandora, Epimeteo, The All-Father Vidar and others, that helped her establish the Dragon Empire as it was today. But beyond that, the Dragon Empire was more concerned on how to kill things that how to worship those things. Of course, there is always black sheep in every folk; for example the Mist fellow that Carnage killed in the Rumbling cave as part of his first Saga; and once the gods have disappointed someone, they turn to the dark side of the [Divine System], the Devils, Demons, Fiends, whatever they are called.

The first week since Gullbani was moved onto the private quarters, his life could be resumed in studying, working on the forge, eating and sparring with his fellow gladiators. Learning about them in the process, subtly scanning their minds, just in case Wikóc was playing dirty and implanting subtle suggestions for them to be obedient and the such.

Not really a surprise when he discovered how the [Mind Walker Cyclops] has indeed left some mental mines here and there. They will trigger, causing massive pain and perhaps even killing their victims, if they try to escape in some way; like jumping over the walls of the battlegrounds or trying to jump or fly over the walls of the elite quarters. Tampering with them was severely dangerous, so he advised Magni of the existence of the mines and let the Asgardian, suggest the others of the presence of said mines and be extra careful.

[Tireless Body] was a blessing for Gullbani, as he stood awake practically the entire week; with an occasional nap post meal, here and there; trying to squeeze as much knowledge and preparation before the next battle. As he thanked Pandora for the Usurped trait, Gullbani has to admit that he was pretty ignorant in the past. Well, he has barely lived for a month and he reached the peak of what his variation could do at the moment, hitting Tier 4 of three main branches of the [Arcane System] and one sub-branch, not to mention the collection of [Rituals] has he mastered and recorded in his [Grimoire of the Thousand Truths], Gullbani really missed Carravers and the treasures the crass Servant was keeping for him.

Religion believes, customs, organizations, politics, economics, language. Gullbani needs to learn about his enemy. The true excellence for a warrior was not just known himself perfectly, but to understand the enemy perfectly. Fighting in the dark was always a mistake and it was time he set some light into the matter of the Southern Empire.

First of all, the Southern Empire was formed when Jusar I, the Demigod that gave origin to the ruling Dynasty since then, conquered everything from his original, small and sea bordering, country to the Cold Sea and the borders of the Dragon Empire and the Asgard Kingdom. Jusar I tried to keep conquering all the continent and then sailing past the Cold Sea onto new lands to claim under his semi-divine mandate. For what Gullbani could make of the books, Jusar I was a bit of an egocentric and believed that he was bringing the light of reason, culture, and enlightenment to anyone that he puts under his heel.

Practically, seventy percent of the monster races of the continent feel under his conquering campaigns. The Gnolls, the Goblins, the Cyclops; although this was originally from the same country; the Arachnes, the Desert Elves; now Dark Elves; the Redcaps, the Trolls, Ogres, Minotaurs, Harpies and dozens more, were slaved and put to work under the "blessing" or Jusar I.

It must be said that lots of monster races made their homes in the Asgard Kingdom, and in a very lesser way, onto the Dragon Empire, mostly in the most populated and mercantile active cities of the Dragon Empire. As the Dragon Empire valued stability over all things, Gullbani was surprised to discover that the Southern Empire was surrounded by sea on its own southerner part and they had common trading routes to a country called Yamato, even if they were cold and to the point after the Southern Empire tried to conquer them by the strength of arms.

The Southern Empire managed to set a foot on the isolated country, but they were kicked out, about a hundred years later, by a warrior called Nurarihyon. Gullbani remembered that name, was the name of a Yokai, a mystical creature of Japan; a powerful leader of all their kind.

The Southern Empire faith was comprised of six major deities and too many Heroes and Demigods to remember, each one of them trying to outdo the rest in the most spectacular way possible. At the head of the Pantheon was Athena, Queen of the Gods and leader of the Olympus, then it was Ares, God of War, Aphrodite Goddess of Love, Hades God of Death, Apollo, God of the Sun and Hestia, Goddess of the Home. After this main six; all of them, Gullbani recognized thanks to the memories of Magnus, the Campione; there were hundreds of heroes and Demigods, trying to make a way into the main Pantheon, but in the last thousand years, only Jusar I had reached something near the godly status.

Every Pantheon had their demons and in this case, the demon was Ladon, the hundred-headed serpent that keeps the Golden apples of the Garden of the Hesperides protected and guarded, so no one would ever ascend to the Olympus and take the empty seats of the original dozen deities that formed the Pantheon. The other pariahs were, not really a surprise, Pandora and Epimeteo; who were blamed by the twilight of the gods and the death of so many deities in a conflict that scourged the world.

Gullbani was shocked when he realized that they were speaking of Ragnarok. That was why Vidar was the All-father and why the Olympus was so weakened. Well, with Ragnarok already done, it was an entirely new world and an entirely new set of rules to discover and tinker with. Exactly the kind of fun that Gullbani could get behind, with a smile.

There was something that called the attention of Gullbani. There were several references to the Children of the Fallen; most possible Demons, Devils and the such; and how the Fallen Angel, Lucifer, struck down by the same apocalyptic force that practically eradicated entire Pantheons or left them severely weakened.

A Fallen Angel called Samyaza took control of what's left of his race and divided it in the Seven Sins. Each fiend will represent a cardinal sin and would do all they could to turn the mortals into their slaves, turning the gods into an obsolete faith and taking vengeance from them for releasing whatever killed Lucifer and practically destroyed the Underworld. On a side note, there were three planes of existence that govern over all of them. The Overworld, the lands of the gods, the World, the lands of the mortals, where he was living now, and the Underworld, who was the land of the death and the home of all the different Hells of all the races of the World.

The Seven Cardinals of Sin, big ass Fiends that controls, Wrath, Sloth, Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, Envy and Pride, each one with armies of lesser Fiends to command and use in order to turn the world into what Samyaza had in mind, essentially, an entire world filled with sinners, devoted to him and ready to flip the bird to the gods. Guided by an internal epiphany, Gullbani suspected that the Minotaur that he fought the first day, were influenced or voluntarily followed Wrath. It was not the first time, making a deal with the devil sows quick benefits and reaps eternal damnation. Magnus saw it happen more than once.

Anyhow, Gullbani was happy to have some more time to himself, and thanks to that, he could observe the Coliseum, the hymns that covered the walls and the stone; the benches, the materials that the gladiators were provided for their weapons and how the people outside of the Coliseum live their lives.

[Telepathy] was incredibly useful, to sneak and slip into nearby minds and get an idea of what made them thick. Gullbani has to be extremely careful of not been caught by Wilkóc; as the Dragonkin didn't want to face the Cyclops in mental combat, not yet; but once he has taken the adequate precaution, he could "walk" in the mind of an outsider and saw the real situation of Hesperusa.

Gullbani never gets close to an important person, it was easier to slip into the less reinforced minds of the slaves that they have around. Slaves like Goblins, Kobolds, and other lesser races, were used as little more than walking tools, but as they spoke freely around the slaves, Gullbani could listen to the conversations, without anyone being the wiser. It did wonders to his ability to learn Imperial, as he just mentally copies the patterns form the minds around and implemented into his own speech.

No doubt, he had a horrible accent, but he could speak Imperial fluently.

Thanks to Gullbani´s recently acquired Language skill, he could know better his comrades, like it or not, Gullbani was going to live with them in the foreseeable future and that means that Gullbani must know who is guarding his back and how well can they guard it. Gullbani had little doubt about the majority of them, the only missing link is Groanok, who was not a warrior. Well, not at heart; Groanok still was a nine foot tall behemoth, with a strength more than adequate to his size; he disliked the violence, on the other hand, the Troll was a very talented artisan, no matter stone, wood or metal, capable of creating beautiful pieces with the adequate materials. Unfortunately, the weakness of all the Troll races to the fire prevented the Troll to enjoy the forge.

It was truly a pity, in any other circumstances, Gullbani would have helped him with an enchanted blacksmith gear. Enchanting it, so it would be completely fireproof and allowing the Troll to branch his talent with the metalworks, but with his magic sealed under the Crest, there was little he could do, except gifting him with gear made of his webbing, relatively fireproof and enough for the Troll to enjoy working around the forge, especially in the constructions of mail armors.

Gullbani was creating adequate gear; well, as much as he could, as he was limited by the restrictions that Lycaios put on them; for all of his comrades, so they could survive all the time they could in the Coliseum and with enormous luck, either win their freedom and become a Libertos or be sold into the military or by a wealthy family.

Gullbani has to admit that he was cheating a bit here, as he was introducing his own telepathic suggestions in them, encouraging them to do not give up, to fight for another day. Gullbani was going to escape or become a powerful Libertos; both were perfect for him and made the Southern Empire curse his name for the rest of their lives, like the worst nightmare since they were born.

Somehow, Gullbani knew that Pandora and Epimeteo were giving him two thumbs up at that idea, the odd married couple had a big ax to grind with the ax of the Southern Empire for turning them into the villains of the tale.

At the beginning of the second week, Gullbani was called to fight a solo battle against a powerful monster, that some local nobles had funded. Lycaios was called by the Governor Clereon and after informing him that his best Gladiator was going to fight a Hero level beast, Clereon made it clear that he was looking for a good spectacle, and of course, Lycaios would not know what beast was, until the battle itself. It will add emotion, was the smirking reply of the Governor.

Gullbani only asked if he could eat the bastard and keep some trophies of the battle. He was really desiring to personalize his quarters a little, they were so devoid of any personality that he needed to improve it somehow; some trophies, racks, and mannequins for his weapons and armor would be a nice touch. Lycaios commented that he was an odd piece of work, bit if Gullbani wins the battle and keep winning for him, by all means, decorate at his own bloody leisure.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Sand Nightmare: Poisonous Body trait Usurped],_ was the result of the battle, as Gullbani has to best an enormous scorpion, whose entire body was poisonous.

It tasted surprisingly spicy, much to the horror of his companions, that saw him roast pieces of the scorpion in the forge and chew on them happily. The carapace of the scorpion was very nice for some resilient and flexible armor for Aneesa, who admitted that among his people, the scorpion was called a Sand Nightmare for a reason, and Gullbani has bested and ate it without a care in the world.

That was just the beginning of the victory streaks of Gullbani, much to the happiness of Lycaios and the despair of the other Schools and Gladiator managers. For Gullbani was just an excuse for more exotic food, interesting and exciting challenges and new powers to Usurp. Fortunately, he was not alone in the spotlight, Magni and Aneesa were as dangerous as him, both the same winning streak; otherwise they would be death; and on the good graces of Lycaios that left them a lot of breathing space, permitting a lot of eccentricities that would not be tolerated in any other slaves.

For a couple of weeks, they were the stars of the Coliseum, unbeatable and invincible. Then, Magni was called to perform in other kinds of activities outside of the Coliseum battlegrounds and Gullbani knew that their fame was starting to cost them dearly.

Magni was the most attractive of the males among the Lycaios crew of elite Gladiators, and the female nobles of Hesperusa, wanted a taste of the titanic vigor of the redhead Asgardian that could wrestle an Ogre into submission. Magni found it completely repulsive, but he knew that had little to say in the matter, and had to share his bed with several noble women of the city.

At the beginning Magni was teased by the twins saying that he was getting more action than any of them; then Magni proceed to sigh and explain to them that he had to share his bed with any female that paid his price; that included ugly, fatty, disgusting and foolish noblewoman that had the money to cover the price that Lycaios has set for him.

Former slaves; like female Liberto Trolls; included.

That conversation, although, served Gullbani to explain their fellow slaves, some curious rules that he has discovered reading some books that Lycaios let him have; bullshit, he has done it by reading minds; about why Aneesa was not called to perform such deeds. She shuddered but realized that Gullbani was right, Dark Elves are notable attractive by human standards, so why has she not been sold like a whore as they had done to Magni?.

The answer would be her children.

According to the Southern Empire Laws, if Annesa was knocked up by a human or a Potestos; the slaves that could make money business in the name of their owners; her children would become property of the one that impregnated her, and if her pregnancy was superior to six months, then she would become legal property of the one that impregnated her.

The average pregnancy of a Dark Elf was eight to ten months, meaning that Lycaios was not whoring her, as she eloquently put it, fearing that some cunning bastard was trying to impregnate her and win two valuable slaves in one single swift.

They need to drink copious amounts of alcohol to forget about such bullshit, and much to his horror and lamentations, Gullbani discovered that alcohol was a poison, so he could drink a bloody barrel of the strongest wine available and would not even feel a buzz. His companions were laughing at his misfortune for the rest of the night, one of the best nights that Gullbani had since his reincarnation in this world.

The next day, the mark of their first month as Gladiators, Gullbani hit an unexpected jackpot during his little mind explorations of the city. There was a resistance movement happening under the noses of the Southern Empire, it was weak and mostly formed by the lowest of the slaves of the city, but there were high positioned individuals; people that had long memories and even longer capabilities to hold a grudge; among them, making the poor resistance movement, survive a day more.

Curious, Gullbani dig a little further into the mind of one of the members of such group and learned about how Libertos Ingrata were trying, quite unsuccessfully as the Southern Empire was a dictatorship at its core, to push a law for the creation of reservations; delimited pieces of land were former slaves could create facsimiles of the civilization that they had before Jusar I conquered them.

The Emperor always reject them saying that the Southern Empire was the pinnacle of the civilization, and they had little need of such waste of time and resources. The Southern Empire cities were more than enough for any Libertos that wanted to live in the most advanced civilization of the world.

Gullbani was amazed by the arrogance of the Emperor, he was just a bloody Demigod!, he may be one of the tops dogs of the World, but a Dragon of the Queen´s Den was higher in the food chain than him, and they were not flaunting their dicks around like the Emperor seems to be doing all the time; even if he has been defeated in all the military campaigns that he has started in the past five decades. Either Jusar was arrogant beyond belief, or something was making him be a delusional fool. Anyone with eyes will soon realize that the Southern Empire pillar was the [Crest of the Slave] and the monster race slaves that work the crops fields day in, day out.

Anyhow, Gullbani subtly put a suggestion in the back of the mind of the members of the resistance group, to test the waters among the Lycaios gladiators, to see if the heroes of the month were happy about being glorified hound dogs for the entertainment of the populace. Gullbani needed contacts on the outside, otherwise, all his plotting and planning would only be that, plotting and planning without any real power to make it real.

On that same day, Gullbani had to fight his first Challenge since the Cómodo debacle.

The competition among the Schools and the Gladiators was fierce, that was common knowledge for any citizen; among that same competition, there was the issue of Challenges, former duels between the Schools trying to demonstrate that they are the best, strategically culling the best fighters of the rival and showing the populace; and future clients; who was the best there is. Curiously, the same School and manager that has provided the Coliseum with the giant scorpion that Gullbani has killed, it the same that has issued the Challenge.

The Vrykolakas School of Gladiators was famous for their beasts, and the fact that their Manager, was a powerful [Elder Vrykolakas Vampire] called Caliban; the old bastard had the ashen colored skin of a corpse, was bald, has pointy ears and wicked fangs, but all his body screamed of power, and he was already roaming around when Jusar I slaved most of the Vampire breeds.

Caliban specialized more on beasts than Gladiators, having the largest breeding pits inside the Coliseum, but now and then, he turned someone into a [Vrykolakas Vampire]. One of his youngest scions wanted to make a name for himself, to impress his Blood Father; as young Vampires called the one that turned them on what they are now; with his martial attitudes. Caliban found it quite amusing and even if the lad perishes, it was not that great of a loss. He had a lot more possible candidates for the Vampire blessing among his crew of Gladiators, this event was just the attempt of one of his Blood Children of calling for his favor.

Gullbani was surprised to have to battle a Vampire; more than anything; the youngster in the blood ways, should have realized that Gullbani was a [Pyrokinesis] user and by so, one of the most dangerous enemies that Undead races could face. The Battle didn't last long, Gullbani, armed with a poleaxe, soon took care of the Vampire, who was so confident in his own superior physical skills that failed to realized that Gullbani was stronger than him.

The first strike disarmed the poor fool and in the recovery maneuver, the head of the Vampire fly separated from his body. Gullbani stabbed the spear tip of the polearm in the headless body; just in the heart; and torch it to ashes.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Vrykolakas Vampire: Bloodkin]._

 _[We want Grandbabies!, has added Allure to the effect of Bloodkin]._ That was the result of that debacle, another power usurped and once again, more headaches for the future.

Pandora was determined to turn his love life into some kind of harem. As a male, having several attractive females around, was always a blessing, but after centuries of living and seeing his loved ones die and turn to ash; the soul of Magnus inside him, discovered that without emotion, sex soon lost its appealing.

In barely half a year of life, Gullbani has already been the father of ten [Lizardman Butcherclaw Riders], if he was not mistaken; but he has not found any special woman that made him smile just with her presence. It was work in progress and Pandora was not helping at all, with all that Alluring enhancements to the Kin traits that he has been Usurping from all kind of enemies, starting by that Arachne back at the Cave of Trial when he was nothing but a baby Kobold.

In an absurd stroke of luck for the Southern Empire, they had not lost as badly as they could; as the Myrmidons were the cheapest troops that one could imagine; and even in defeat, the borders of the Southern Empire were quite safe and sound. Cleaning the thousand upon thousands of Myrmidons corpses has been a disgusting chore, but that was the worst that they had to deal with, as the Dragon Empire has returned to their own borders and keep watching them like hawks, just in case any Legion had a funny idea and wanted to start something.

The Emperor may have thrown a fit and tried to look out for someone to blame for the sudden extermination of his ace under his sleeve, but at the end of the day, the ones that took the majority of the casualties were the Slave Legions, and they always had enough number of those around.

Goblins, Gnolls, and other races like that had a high reproduction rate, so they would easily recover the numbers of their Slave Legions. It was still yet to know, what´s going to be the next objective of Jusar VIII, that has sworn upon the statues of the major gods of the Southern Empire, that he was going to conquer the entire world, bringing the name of the Jusar Dynasty to the heavens.

Somehow, Gullbani suspected that all the Emperors were looking for the same bloody thing.

They wanted to ascent and become deities of their own; however, if one had to believe the gospel of the Southern Empire, Ladon has greedily blockaded the Garden of the Hesperides, making impossible to anyone, to ascend to a full Olympian deity, by eating one of the golden apples. Perhaps Jusar VIII wanted to become a deity, so he could travel to the Garden and then slain Ladon. That would turn him into the owner of the Garden and by so, at all effects, the leader of the Olympus, now ruled by Athena, Queen of the Gods.

It was food for thought, but there was something that was nagging in the corner of the mind of Gullbani; why the Southern Empire was so obsessed with war against other countries?, in fact, if any of the Jusars of the past, wanted to ascend, they could have asked for Pandora´s help. Pandora was an Olympian at heart, she would have never turned her back on her own people.

If the [Circle of Usurpation] was something that she could have blessed someone with; a Jusar, a Demigod with this skill, could have slain Ladon and by Usurping the Authorities of the avaricious Dragon, help the Olympians to recover their numbers. So, why has not that happen?, something was wrong with the Southern Empire, something that all the instincts of Gullbani were screaming would end in a bloody disaster.

Gullbani was not entirely sure about the exact date of his birthday, however, on the approximated date of his six months of life in this new world; him and his fellow Gladiators had to reenact a famous battle of the past, where one of them; Magni was the only one who fitted the bill; had to act as Remo, one of the twins that helped Jusar I to found the empire. The script of the Southern Empire said that Remo and a bunch of the first Legionaries, hunted down the original Lycaon, the father of all the Southern Empire Werewolves and his pack of werewolf murderers that killed the own wolf mother of Remo and Romulo.

In truth, Remo just killed one of the youngest sons of Lycaon; who was still alive somewhere; but for the Southern Empire and the Remo family, the truth was that Remo slew the assassin of his mother and eliminated one of the worst monsters that the Southern Empire had roaming their lands.

Lycaios was swearing all the time, when he meets them into the elite barracks; still occupied just by them, as no one among the underground training barracks was skilled enough to ascend or desperate enough to challenge any of them; explaining to them that they are going to face a rabid werewolf of unknown breed and a bunch of equally out of their minds Lycanthropes.

Cómodo himself was, usually, the one that took that role, as he is a Remo after all, but after the loss string that Remo suffered against them, he has excused himself saying that his School is still recovering and suggested that Lycaios´s bunch was more than capable of performing the act.

The underline was that the battle against the "Lycaon" was always a bloody massacre, where only Cómodo and perhaps one or two of his best fighters made out the battleground alive. And now that Cómodo has slipped out of the spotlight, anything that he did in the past to balance the battle so he could survive, was not going to happen, leaving them with their asses in the open.

Gullbani took it in stride and simply shrugged, he could do little about it, and frankly he was salivating at the prospect of what kind of powers was he going to Usurp of the Werewolf; the one that swore as much as Lycaios was Magni, who not only had to wear the armor of the Southern Empire, but slain Lycanthropes and a Werewolf that could possibly be a kinsman of him.

Much like the Vampire race, Werewolves are born and transform into what they are by their Blood Parents, although the Werewolves called it, the Beast Blood, instead of simply the Blood, like the Vampires. In the continent where they lived, there were two main breeds of Werewolves.

The Lycaon breed and the Fenrirblut, similar but completely different at the same time.

Magni was afraid that he is going to kill a Fenrirblut, the vast majority of them are Asgardian and part of a brotherhood called the Ulfhednar. If that was the case, Magni somberly advised them to be extremely careful, a demented Fenrirblut Werewolf was the material of nightmares for Asgardians. And how it can not be otherwise, that weakness to silver only works on transformed Werewolves, purebloods and elder Fernrirblut are immune to it.

Gullbani eyed Magni and suddenly said that neither the twins or Graonok are up for the task, earning a confused expression from the rest of his comrades, and a surprised expression from Magni, who was about to say the same.

Gullbani smirked and explained that Groanok, indeed had the physical power to stand his ground, but a rabid Fenrirblut?. That beast was going to tear him apart, even with his natural hardness and regeneration, the Fenrirblut was as strong as Groanok and had very, very sharp claws that would tear him to shreds before he could even land a hit with his Warhammer. It was the same with the twins, they were stronger and faster than any human, but Lycanthropes; people with Werewolf blood, but not with the same power that an entire one; are pretty much their equals, and their hit hard and repeatedly style was not gonna work this time.

Lycaios was silently observing the entire conversation, he has learned to appreciate the cunning of the bloody Dragonkin, sometimes he was a complete bastard, sometimes he had acts of kindness that were quite improper for his status as slave, and sometimes he could be from another world entirely, as no one understood what´s going on his bloody head.

In fact, Lycaios owned the Dragonkin his business, if he would have pulled such an impressive stunt the first day he fought in the Coliseum, Lycaios was sure that he would be facing some serious problems to keep the business afloat.

Gullbani had an idea, they are not going to like it, but it was the only thing he had in mind, to keep as many of them alive as possible. It was obvious that Cómodo was still trying to cull their numbers, so exiting all of them to this bloody trap would be a complete suicide, instead, they would send half of them as suicide bait and left three of them; the ones that Lycaios can use to pull the same bullshit excuse of Cómodo. whenever a trick like the one they were facing, comes his way.

Gullbani, Magni, and Aneesa would be the only ones steeping in the battlegrounds, and essentially will do a bit of the first day, Magni and Aneesa will deal with the Lycanthropes and Gullbani will deal with the Werewolf, whatever the breed it could be. With luck, they would make it out of this one, alive, and if not, the twins and Groanok will still be alive and could try their hands at freedom.

They didn't like it, and they did protest, but Gullbani pointed his thumb at Lycaios and widened an eye at them in mute question. They were lucky that Lycaios was giving them such a wide berth, in fact; their owner could have just walked inside, ordered them to gear up and toss their sorry asses into the battlegrounds. But Lycaios was learning one valuable lesson, to use the mindset of Gullbani against himself.

Gullbani was a perfectionist and an overachiever, not to mention that he did not take crap from anyone, Crest or not, and Lycaios was turning those same traits into his own profit. For now, after all, Gullbani was the one mind-scourging the city and setting a lot of plans into motion, some will be completely useless and other will not, but he needed time.

Not to be arrogant, but if the push comes to the shore, Gullbani had a lot of aces under his sleeve to deal with anything that the Coliseum could throw at him. If he was the only one surviving the ordeal, all the mental work that he has done to his friends would be wasted, not to mention that he will be alone, with no possible allies to retort, in case the things went really pear-shaped.

With that in mind, Gullbani chose the two that had the highest possibilities of survival

Magni was hiding something, something that had something to do with the tattoo of Mjolnir in his right hand; he always kept it covered; but the incredible strength of Magni was something that can not be denied, he was the strongest of them and armed with a hammer that Gullbani forged for him, it was terrible to face on the battlefield, as he will crush any defense or protection as it was not there.

Aneessa was a [Dark Elf Blade Dancer], all her style was about Not being hit, and thanks to the intense training that she has been receiving lately from Magni and Gullbani, and the fact that she sparred regularly with people way above her in terms of raw strength, has attuned perfectly her fighting style, for the kind of bullshit that she was going to face. On a side note, Aneesa was still blaming herself for the death of Sumur and Azzayan, the Dark Elves that were under her care as Decurion of a Slave Legion, but thanks to the subtly mental pushes of Gullbani, she was recovering from the survivor guilt.

Gullbani would have loved to learn what was corroding his friends like this, however, even with all the mental tinkering that he has done, Gullbani has never dug into the secrets of his friends or manipulate their memories. There was a limit for all, and even if he would admit that he was a bit of a hypocrite, judging for what he was doing to their minds; Gullbani took comfort in the fact that he was doing it for their own good. In the situation they were in, giving up, means dying and surrender was a word that did not exist in the vocabulary of Gullbani.

At the end of the discussion, Lycaios; as pragmatic as always; agreed with Gullbani, judging the kind of shit they will have to deal with, sending all of them was a sure recipe for killing one of them, and with all the money they are generating for him during their communal battles and the extra services that some of them are providing, it would be stupid to kill the golden eggs goose.

Not to mention that Lycaios was seeing the pragmatism and cunning in the statement of Gullbani, that if all of them die, Lycaos will still have a solid base to keep his School as one of the best and keep the business up, until he could find more replacements.

Wikóc, being the bastard that he was, pointed out that perhaps they should send the twins and the Troll as sacrifices to sate the need of retribution of Cómodo and keep the aces under their sleeves. Gullbani shook his head in negation and replied to the Cyclops with logic. Cómodo wanted the aces of Lycaios gone, sacrificing minor pawns like Groanok and the twins in a vain attempt to heal his wounded pride would be useless as he wanted him out of the picture.

Facts up front, everyone knows that Gullbani was the top Gladiator of Lycaios; he was bested in terms of strength only by Magni, and the arsenal of tricks that he had under his scales was more than enough to made him the top dog; he was not as popular as Magni and used as sex toy, just because his Dragon heritage was seen with disgust by the citizens of the Southern Empire, who had been at war with his Kin since forever. With that in mind, Cómodo was trying to pull another bullshit as he did in the past and make Lycaios sacrifice as many of his elites as Cómodo could force Lycaios to sacrifice. Considering that this performance was based on a major legend of the Southern Empire, Lycaios would have to pull out all brakes, as losing was not a recommended tactic. It would be insulting to the memories of the founders of the Southern Empire and that would put Lycaios in a very delicate position.

Lycaios hoped that the Dragonkin would win the battle and use that to push Cómodo even more to a corner, so far, the bastard has dodged the fallout of the botched up bullshit that he put on them the first day of his elites, only thanks to his Remo surname. Old families like that had a lot of weight in the Southern Empire, the only reason why they are not a bunch of inbreed imbeciles because that wide berth they had, was that all the Jusars had a "perfection above all" policy with those that represented the Southern Empire roots and strength. Meaning, that any family that is not an outstanding example, would be butchered to the ground and their blood purity, by all means necessary.

In resume, if the Dragonkin managed to pull a victory out of his scaly ass, Lycaios would dance in happiness in the middle of the Coliseum private seats.

As the day comes, Gullbani prepared himself for the battle.

Thanks to the forge, Gullbani has managed to craft a very nice mail armor; contrary to the soft-skinned races, his skin was hard as steel and could wear the mail directly over his skin without any issue; with a sleeveless black long coat; made of his own webbing; over it, black sturdy pants; of the same materials; and combat boots, that he reinforced with metallic toes, his natural feet ended in long nails and he was constantly scratching the toes of his boots.

Faithful to his Dane ax and round shield combination, Gullbani did all he could to forge the sturdiest piece of metal he could; without magic and with only steel as an ingredient, he could do great things, but against an enchanted weapon of any kind, anything he made was pretty much screwed.

Still, it was better than the crap that the Coliseum offers for the Gladiators that fight daily; pieces of iron barely shaped and sharpened before being put in a display; his professional pride cried each time he saw what the non-elite combatants had to use. Frankly, Lycaios could be called a lot of things, but any weapons that ended in the hands of his Gladiators was an adequate piece of equipment.

At this point, Gullbani was accustomed to the roar of the populace in the Coliseum, and he strutted into the battlegrounds, with the ax over his shoulders and the round shield up, saluting the public. They loved him and despised him at the same time. He was a Dragonkin, a bitter enemy for the last decades and still, he was a charismatic, invincible bastard that smiles at the face of death and always emerges triumphant.

The first thing that surprised Gullbani, was that the terrain was completely different from the usual flat ground; somehow, they have changed it into a replica of a mountain terrain with a partial coverage of little trees and bushes here and there. Gullbani keeps his smirk, but mentally was frowning and realizing that this terrain gives the pack of wolves all the bloody advantage, they could stalk them at their leisure and fall upon them from all directions.

Gullbani [Blindsigth] has already spotted one of them eyeing them from a safe distance, keeping an eye on them, waiting with the patience of the predators to the arrival of their preys. Aneesa had already her curved daggers up and ready, she has become extremely proficient with the serrated dagger and could inflict crippling wounds even with a slight touch, meanwhile Magni was obviously uncomfortable, wearing an extremely decorated; a far cry from the solid and practical armors of the Legionaries; armor of golden engravings and a masked helmet with the face of Remo; saluting the populace with a sword; a replica of the one that Remo supposedly used; instead of the hammer that he favored over the rest of the weapons.

" _I got them"._ Mentally informed Gullbani to Magni, who frowned under his masked helmet. _"There are eight of them, including the Werewolf, the mind of the latter is a miasma of barely controlled rage"._

" _Provoke them in the open, if we try to climb and enter into that little forest, we are doomed"_. Said Magni, posing a hand over the shoulder of Aneesa and informing them of the plan in the Norse language that all three shared.

Gullbani smiled widely and after they moved to an open position; one that the wolves would lose their upper position and forest advantage and would have to face them on equal grounds; he slammed the bottom of the Dane ax in the floor and roared his challenge to the wolves hiding in the rocks and forest.

He was Dragonkin, he may appear as almost human, but Gullbani was not a bloody human, the power of Dragons run in his blood, the power of a Campione runs in his soul; with the help of a powerful set of lungs, Gullbani released the beast that all Kin had in their souls and challenged the wolves.

They accepted wholeheartedly and Gullbani smiled wickedly.

Like rabid dogs, the pack of Lycanthropes exited from the forest, claws, fangs, and weapons ready to butcher them like cattle, but the star of the show, eclipsed them all, when a nine tall hybrid between a wolf and a human cleaved his path through the forest, smashing any puny tree in his way out.

The Lycanthropes were essentially humans with wolfish traits; a bit stronger than humans and with enhanced senses, but little more; the Werewolf was a nine feet tall monster of half a ton of fury, claws, fangs, and blood-thirst. The brown and black fur of the Werewolf had red patching, and those were not natural like its fur has changed by contact with something; curious, but Gullbani archived that in the back of his mind before he ran to face the Werewolf and Magni and Aneesa engaged the Lycanthropes.

Like two bulls fighting against each other, Gullbani and the enraged Werewolf, clashed with a thunderous sound and the echo of the shield cracking, flesh being cut and shred and bones being broken.

The left claw of the Werewolf has slashed against the shield, leaving deep cuts over its surface, but not enough to spot its course and ending in bashing the muzzle of the Werewolf, breaking part of his muzzle; the right claw moved under the border of the shield and slashed the arms of Gullbani, drawing blood and leaving deep gashes on the golden flesh; Gullbani´s Dane ax, came from the right side of the Werewolf and buried his blade onto the ribs of the Werewolf.

They separated from each other and after a couple of second to catch their breaths, they lunged at each other again. The Werewolf wounds healed at an impossible rate; Gullbani´s wounds were the same as their regeneration was similarly fast; and even with the broken muzzle and ribs, the Werewolf keep clawing from all directions, being replied with equal ferocity by the shield and ax of Gullbani.

Claw hit the shield, ax deflected claw, fangs tried to bite, the muzzle was based by the shield, claw tries to rip upper leg, shield parries claw, kick to the knee, shield to face, claw to chest, fangs to arm, ax to shoulder; and so went the list on.

The blood flies everywhere, but none of the fighters wanted to back down from the challenge and keep attacking the other with all the strength that they could muster; the Werewolf carried by his rage and Gullbani by his own battle frenzy, it has been a while since he could vent his anger and frustration, always looking controlled and calm; now, this amicable Werewolf was the perfect punching bag; one that strikes back; to work out some frustrations. And Gullbani was enjoying every second of it, especially thanks to [Feel No Pain] and [Troll Regeneration].

With a powerful swing of its claws, the Werewolf shattered the round shield, just to receive a nasty swing to the chest from the Dane ax, that sent him tumbling backward with a bleeding and deep cut all over his left waist, to the right shoulder.

Covered in the blood of the other, Gullbani and the Werewolf breathed jaggedly; even for the Werewolf´s stamina and regeneration, the punishment that they have been dishing at each other in their duel was a bit too much; they are giving their all in each attack and that was taking a toll on them.

Gullbani has not activated [Tireless Body], he wanted to enjoy every, single, second of the bloody battle. It was like when Magnus the Campione was a young Berserker, his body pushing beyond its limits with each battle, always looking for the favor of the Gods. Nostalgia apart, risks apart, Gullbani was facing this enemy with all he had, and he pretended to respect the Werewolf, even if the poor beast was just a drugged sod, sacrificed to honor a lie.

The wounds of the Werewolf soon stop bleeding and the beast snarled, its rage was numbing his judgment and battle skills, only making it wish for the flesh and the blood of the prey that it has in front of its muzzle; a very dangerous prey, as he was capable of fighting back, and inflict a bloody lot of harm to the strong body of a Werewolf, but the battle has just begun, and the beast demanded more.

With a savage roar, they lunged at each other again.

Gullbani took the Werewolf by surprise, smashing the bottom of the ax on his muzzle, stunning the beast enough to broke its tempo, and forcing it to stop his charge and close his eyes, as the impact has been enough to crackle it´s muzzle, again, then Gullbani recovered stance and deliver a mighty downward swing, burying the edge of the Dane ax into the left shoulder of the Werewolf, effectively crushing its shoulder blade and crippling its left arm.

The response of the Werewolf was brutal, enhanced by the pain it was feeling, his right claw swing upwards and rip the armor of Gullbani, shredding the metal rings of the chain mail and wounding deeply the chest and stomach of Gullbani. Thanks, Pandora for his hardness and regeneration traits, otherwise he would have been disemboweled by that strike.

They got separated by the sudden and brutal wounds that they had inflicted on each other; this time, Gullbani was the one has taken the worst of the exchange and what´s worse, he has lost his ax and was unarmed against a Werewolf. Fortunately, he surrounded his fist with flames, as his [Pyrokinesis] was still perfect.

Blinded and crippled, even with its natural regeneration, the Werewolf has suffered a lot of damage and has an ax buried in its shoulder, dampening the healing of the broken bones, not to mention the broken muzzle, that has blinded it for a bit and still stung like bloody hell. The rage and the pain were the main motivators of the Werewolf, who guided by instinct more than anything else, jumped at Gullbani surprising him and sending him to the ground, where the Werewolf clawed his armor and flesh with all its might, before Gullbani erupted into a pillar of flames surrounding the both of them into a curtain of fire.

The flames were harmless for Gullbani, but for the Werewolf, it charred it´s skin and flesh, sending searing pain into his enraged mind, as the fire consumed its body with fierce determination. However, Gullbani was as trapped as the Werewolf, as the beast had him pinned in the ground, and trashing of the beast, was causing Gullbani a lot of wounds; thanks from [Feel No Pain], Gullbani could keep up with the trashing, and with [Troll Regeneration], nothing will be permanent.

It was tremendously discomforting, even with the numbed sensations, Gullbani knew that his body was taking quite the beating and very few could have walked away for the punishment that the frenzied Werewolf was dishing to him. The powers that the [Circle of Usurpation] has granted him from his victories were useful as hell.

Hidden by the curtain of flames, from the outside, they can only saw their silhouettes fighting in the ground, the Werewolf clawing and biting the body of Gullbani and the other punching the head of the Werewolf, caving in the right side of the head of the beast with powerful punches.

Taking advantage of the cover, Gullbani stabbed the Werewolf in the chest with one of his stingers and pumped through the bone blade, the strongest, nastiest poison his [Poisonous Body] trait could create. The Werewolf howled in pain and shock, but before the poison and the damage that the stinger has done; Gullbani tried to stab it in the heart, but because of the constant movement, he has failed an inch; the Werewolf bite Gullbani and almost rip his right shoulder out of his body.

Gullbani roared in pain; even with [Feel No Pain] that has hurt like the devil, and cleared a bit of the fire, so his companions could see what´s going on. It was in the script of this pantomime, that Magni has to be the one that delivers the killing strike, as did Remo in the past.

The Dragonkin clinched the dying beast; the poison was going to kill it anyway, but the show must continue; and called Magni for delivering the finishing blow, with luck, his companions would have already dealt with the Lycanthropes and they could help him kill this beautiful monsters that have provided Gullbani with one of the best challenges of his short life.

"Magni, end this charade!". Roared Gullbani, grabbing with all his might the body of the Werewolf so it could not move, a second later, a flash of steel buried itself on the head of the Werewolf, who was already dead for the poison burning his inner organs, whoever, the spams of the dead corpse was convincing enough for anyone to say that the sword of "Remo" was the one that killed the beast.

The beast fell on top of Gullbani, claws still deep on his flesh, and the Dragonkin sighed, breathing jaggedly for the effort, letting his flames douse off in the air. Soon he noticed the presence of Magni and Aneesa that were tossing the corpse to a side and helping him to stand on his feet.

[Troll Regeneration] has done a wonderful work in keeping himself together, but the Werewolf has caused a lot of severe damage and Gullbani had to cut short the work of his Usurped Trait, otherwise any witness; like the thousands of citizens of the city in the benches overlooking at them; would realize that he regenerates way to fast for any of his race.

Bruised, battered and bleeding, Gullbani was helped to stand by Magni and Aneesa, Gullbani had his arms over their shoulders, saluting to the surrounding populace with fake smiles, as they whisper encouraging words to him; hang on, that the priest were on their way, that he would better not dare to die on them; they were really worried about him, and in any other circumstance, Gullbani would have to admit that he would have been worried too. But he was Gullbani, the reincarnation of the most powerful of the Campiones of an era, and he would not be defeated by something like having his body torn to shreds and bleed to the bone in the ground of a Coliseum.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Alpha Fenrirblut: Blood of Fenrir Blessing Usurped]._ Gullbani smiled; that was interesting, now, if he could manage to convince that bastard of Wikóc to let some mead slip into the menu of the dining room, his day would be complete.

 **End Chapter.**

 **Character Info:**

 **Name:**

Carnage "Carn" Runescales of the Stormrage Clan/ Gullbani of the Brimstone Clan.

 **Race:**

Dragonkin Overlord Level 36

 **Unique Skills:**

-Circle of Usurpation: Much like the Authority, Carn can steal a Skill/Authority/Trait from the body of a defeated enemy, but only if it has been defeated by him.

-Divine´s Bane: As former Devil King, Carn is the bane of any divine spellcaster or divine creature.

-We want grandbabies!- Pandora and Epimeteo wanted grandbabies to spoil, like it or not, Carn will have a harem.

 **Skills/Traits/Abilities.**

-God of Magic: Carn can learn any kind of magic, thanks to the Blessing of Pandora.

-Oldest soul: Carn had all the memories of Magnus Blacksson, the strongest and Oldest Campione of a bygone era. As magic comes from the soul, he had a godly reserve of magic to fuel his spells.

-Arcane System:

-Earth Magic Tier 4 1- [Echo]/ 2-[Metal sense]/3-[Earthcraft]/4-[Earth Armor]

-Sky Magic Tier 1 1-[Feather fall]

-Body Magic Tier 4 1-[Buff]/2-[Heal]/3-[Regenerate]/4-[Cleanse]

-Mind Magic Tier 1 1-[Zero Mind]

-Abyss Magic Tier 4 1-[Night Spear]/2-[Dark Mantle] /3-[Abyssal walker]/4-[Absorbing Abyss]

-Death magic Tier 1 1-[Death senses]

-Necromancy affinity Tier 4 1/2/3 [Summon Undead Servants Skeletons/Shadow Skeletons/Draugr]/ 4- [Undead Thrall]

-Ritual System:

-Unseen Servant: Carn can summon a Servant that acts as Steward, cleaning crew, cook, and infinite warehouse. He called the androgynous being of pure magic, Carravers It does have the sense of humor of an English butler.

-Algiz: Provides Magic Resistance (Arcane, Divine, and Ritual But NO Kinesis) for nine hours/days/years to a maximum of nine individuals depending on the magic power, components, sacrifices, etc.

-Revenant: Creates a powerful undead servant called Revenant.

-Requiem: Destroys an undead and releases its soul to whatever afterlife it was supposed to go.

-Unblemished Copyist: Creates a perfect replica of a non-magical text, drawing, etc.

-Fratricide: Kills an individual and all its blood progeny, no matter the generation.

-Crest of the Slave: Carnage can mark an individual with a mark that would make It a slave, with any configuration that Carnage put in the Crest.

 **Usurped Skills/Traits/Abilities/etc:**

 **Skills:**

-Pyrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural fire.

-Electrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural electricity.

-Acidkinesis: Carn can create and manipulate dangerous acids.

-Telepathy: Carnage can communicate via telepathy to creatures that shared a language with him.

 **Blessings:**

-Blood of Fenrir: Gullbani is a Werewolf now, he can transform in a hybrid of man and wolf and into a powerful dire wolf at will. Other Fenrirblut would recognize him as the Alpha he is.

-Blessing of Pandora: Pandora never forgets her children. Carnage´s tale has been altered to a transcendental path.

-Blessing of Epimeteo: Pandora is happy, Epimeteo is happy. Carnage´s tale has been altered to a transcendental path.

-Red Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the red head of Tiamat, Carn domain over fire is way superior to the rest of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Green Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the green head of Tiamat, Carn is the best poisoner of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Black Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the black head of Tiamat, Carn is the best Necromancy user of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

 **Traits:**

-Webbing: Carn can generate natural webbing of three colors steel, gold and red, he can project it from fingertips, mouth, tail tip and ass.

-Spit Poison: Carn can spit poison of varying virulence.

-Poisonproof: Carn is immune to all natural poison and highly resistant against magical poisoning

-Walk Walls: As a spider, Carn can walk barehanded/footed over non-slippery/wet surfaces

-Spiderkin: All Spiders considers Carn one of them, thanks to the effect of the [We want Grandbabies] bless, all female Arachnes found Carn specially Alluring.

-Stone Mimetic: Took the appearance, texture, and smell of the surrounding rocks, but not his hardness.

-Fireproof: Carn is immune to all kind of natural fire and highly resistant against magical fire.

-Blindsight: Perfect, 360º sight at 10 meters, no matter the conditions.

-Stone carving claws: 12 inches twin stingers from his forearms capable of cutting and carving stone with easiness.

-Mimetic: Carn can mimetic with the environment, better than any chameleon would do.

-Corrosive Stench: Carn could generate acridly, nauseate and acid sweat.

-Hardened scales: Carn´s scale hardness is massively increased.

-Blood drinker: Carn can absorb the blood of his preys, healing himself from even crippling wounds.

-Elasticity: Carn can make his body as elastic as a pile of goo, without losing any strength or resistance.

-Tireless body: As soon as his magic can keep exhaustion at bay, Carn will not tire.

-Sharp scales: Carnage scales could turn sharp and edgy, wounding anything that touched them without protection.

-Might of the predator: Carnage muscles are denser, stronger and more durable than they should, giving him strength, way beyond his size.

-Ghostkin: Ghosts, specters, phantoms and other apparitions, consider Carnage Kin and do not molest him. Thanks to the effect of [We want Grandbabies!], all female apparitions found Carn, specially Alluring.

-Multidexterity: Hands, feet, tail, tentacles, tongue; no matter, Carn can use any appendage as it was his good hand.

-Feel No Pain: Carnage could tune out any sensation of pain, numbing his nerves and pushing beyond his limits; suffering the drawback, of course.

-Myrmidon Royalty: At the eyes of the Myrmidons, Carnage is a mix between a Royal Guard and the Queen of the Hive; the ultimate peak of the Hive. Carnage has bound his destiny to the Tale of the Golden Apple Tree watcher.

-Regeneration: Carnage can regenerate even the most grievous wounds, except acid, fire, and pesticides.

-Insatiable Libido: The body of Gullbani´s is a sex machine; having sex only augmented the desire for more sex.

-Brass Body: The body of Gullbani could become as hard as solid brass.

-Troll Regeneration: Gullbani regenerates any wounds, except those inflicted by fire.

-Devourer: Gullbani digestive system is capable of eating anything, without consequences. Even inorganic matter or dangerous substances, as long as they are ingested and not injected or inhaled, it doesn't matter if they are poisonous or not.

-Poisonous Body: Gullbani could make his entire body poisonous.

-Bloodkin: All the Vampire races, consider Gullbani one of them. Thanks to the effect of [We Want Grandbabies!], female Vampires consider Gullbani, specially Alluring.


	10. Gladiator III

**5.3-Gladiator III**

Lycaios School of Gladiators was the top dog of the Arena.

After the magnificent display that they made with the rehearsal of the defeat of Lycaon at the hands of Remo, offers and contracts rained on Lycaios; asking him to lend his elite for all kind of things. From more legal business; like being bodyguards and protectors, even the champions of some Nobles and the such; to more shady activities like ambushing some people in the night and kill them and other not so glorious actions. The latter was always vehemently denied by Lycaios, of course.

Gullbani and the twins were the ones that dealt with the majority of the latter.

Magni almost attacked Wikóc when the Cyclops ordered him to do it, and even if the Cyclops almost crippled Magni between the Crest and his own mental powers; to remind the Asgardian who was the master here; Magni stubbornly denied any involvement in any of that shady business.

Aneesa and Groanok were in the same boat, enough blood they have to spill in the Coliseum to look out for more outside; so, all of those labors fall onto the hands of Gullbani and the twins, who were loyal to their Alpha, now more than ever that they feel the Blood of Fenrir in his veins; and had little qualms to dug their weapons in the flesh of the citizens of the Southern Empire.

It was a good thing too, that most of the assassinations that they had to do were for political reasons; meaning, they had to slaughter a human and his bodyguards, a member of the Noble houses of Hesperusa; the same people that have enslaved them and forced them to fight for their amusement in the bloody Coliseum. The twins were quite an enthusiast in finishing those jobs and the [Telepathy] powers of Gullbani kept at a minimum any possible ambushes and botched up contracts that were either a trap or a suicide run for them.

Lycaios was not happy when that occurs, but there was always one Noble more clever than the rest, that believed that he was the first one that has the idea of using Gladiators and then sacrifices them before he had to pay or to erase clues and witness of his little, not so legal business.

Lycaios, thanks to his loyal Cyclops, could read the mind of the contractors and knew when they were trying to pull such a bullshit on him; but it was impossible to prevent all of them, Gullbani could minimize the damages and made them slip back into the Coliseum as if nothing has happened and let another poor bunch of souls to take the fallout. It was cruel, but it was Gullbani´s companions or a bunch of anonymous slaves; for the Dragonkin, there was no discussion, survival was usually a cruel and nasty business that let little space for consideration and happy thoughts.

On a more positive note, thanks to dealing with that kind of thing, Gullbani managed to steal a lot of secrets from the minds of their victims; now that they are dead, it was a waste not to take those same secrets and later, see if some of them were usual or worthless; and once he had the information that has cost their victims their lives, Gullbani waited for an occasion where Wikóc was not around and slipped that same information in the adequate minds of the city.

For example, the resistance groups, that suddenly found themselves with brilliant ideas and suggestions that would make their rivals´ lives a lot more miserable. At the same time, Gullbani cautiously manipulated some rivals of Lycaios, so they think twice before pulling another "Remo" bullshit for them. After they managed to win that battle, Lycaios was soaring, but it was a very bad idea to dwell in past glories, much less when they are being used for political plots.

That never ends well; the Southern Empire was the nest of the political intrigues, and frankly, practically all the Nobles had enough skeletons in the closet to bury their entire families ten times over.

A slave with that kind of knowledge was a very dangerous thing, that´s why Lycaios; after a suggestion from Wikóc, who "casually" heard it from a debate Gullbani had with Groanok about politics; always accepted the contracts that benefited the actual Governor.

Clereon Scipio was one of the most dangerous bastards that have governed the city and had a very well earned fame of being a cruel and relentless Governor, with little time for foolishness. Lycaios was making a fortune with the contracts that came from the Governor and those affiliated with him, something that made a lot of rivals of Lycaios, wary of the consequences of fucking with a person that has the blessing of the Governor.

At the same time that Gullbani was threading his plans, he discovered that some adventurous women of the Noble houses had suddenly developed a taste for Dragon meat. Gullbani found himself being whored out, to a lot of discrete mistress of different Noble Houses that wanted to see if the ferocity and raw power of the Dragonkin translated into his lovemaking skills.

[Insatiable Libido] become a double-edged sword, Gullbani did perform beyond the wildest dreams of the women; up to a point on where he put all the female participants of an orgy into a sex coma; and that, in return, gave nothing but headaches, as Lycaios has his mail flooding with letters; filled of euphemisms; begging for the presence of the Dragonkin in the next "party" of the whatever House was asking for his presence.

Gullbani´s companions laughed at his "misfortune" for days, although Magni emphatically brought him beer each time he went back from one of the worst of those contracts. It´s not funny when the situation even turns into a roleplaying scene with whips, leather and a wrinkled old woman trying to remember her glory days. After Gullbani shared; in a very explicit and detailed tale; the night that he had with the aforementioned old human woman, no one among his companions dared to made another joke about how Magni and he were getting laid so many times.

There were very pleasurable occasions, like the orgy, where Gullbani swam in a sea of turgid and delicious female flesh, where he was serviced by the talented lips of sexually trained slaves, whose only purpose in life was to provide sensual pleasure to their partners; so somehow, and with a lot of [Telepathy] to prevent any rehearsal of the old dominatrix, the pros and the cons compensated themselves. Still, Gullbani has not yet found himself drawn to any female, beyond the physical pleasure; on that spirit of things Gullbani didn't want t to intrude in the little romance that was slowly and cautiously growing between Magni and Aneesa.

Aneesa was a beautiful woman in spirit and body, talented with the blade and with all the traits that Magnus the Campione liked; namely, the red hair and warrior spirit; but Aneesa, perhaps unconsciously, feared Gullbani. She was a valuable and very dear friend, but the Dark Elf; and Gullbani suspected everyone else was in the same wagon, except perhaps Magni and the twins; still found him extremely unusual, to put it mildly. They were Gullbani´s comrades thick and thin, but Gullbani knew that he was not the sanest of the individuals, not even in a good day; that his mind worked in completely different ways than the rest of the world.

Magni and Aneesa had found common grounds and even if they were doing their best to hide any possible insinuation of their growing fondness of each other; Gullbani was a bloody telepath and has been in their minds, so Gullbani knew and subtly encouraged their romance.

It would be one of the little pleasures they could have in this golden cage of being an elite gladiator.

Oh, surely they lived well and their needs are covered, but they were cattle in a different form. It would be a totally different thing if they had even a sliver of liberty, but they were permanently caged to the Coliseum. Only Gullbani was mentally slipping outside, and he knew that for people like Aneesa and Magi, being caged was a destiny worse than death. The twins were happy, as long as they had a pack to belong, and Groanok didn't found the difference in living here or there or anywhere, he was happy as he was alive and could work the stone.

Another good thing that came from their fame as top gladiators came when Gullbani was contracted to be the bodyguard of a powerful Libertos. She came to the city to deal business and need the best protection available. Gullbani eyes widened when he discovered that the Libertos that has contracted him for a month, was none other than the Legate Lucrecia Severa. Gullbani lacked the words to describe the irony in the fact barely a couple of months ago; Gullbani, as Carnage Runescales, would have done everything in his claws to rip the Dark Elf legionary commander, a new one.

But as Gullbani, he shrugged and accepted the job that Lycaios has signed him for, making him work as a bodyguard for a month, accompanying the Legate anywhere outside of her residence, wherever she wanted to go. Gullbani was hardly surprised to see that she was accompanied by a retinue of former slaves and legionaries of the Slave Legions. Legate Severa was an Ingrata; a slave that has cut ties with the family or individual that free her; although, for what Gullbani recalled of his time as Carnage, she earned her freedom, by serving her time in the Slave Legions.

As soon as Gullbani was transported to the residence of the Legate, he realized that the place was hardly a fortress. Sure, it was a very comfortable and spacious mansion in the Higher sector of the city but lacked any walls, too many windows, and doors and open spaces everywhere. Not to mention the decoration was enough to hide a dozen assassins without molesting each other. This was not an adequate residence for a military leader, however, Legate Severa was not living permanently in the city, she was here to deal some business and get back to her own residence; a manor in the rural areas of the Southern Empire; as soon as she could.

A dozen dark elves, two ogres, five harpies and half a dozen of redcaps; all Legionaries of the Slave Legions; were the retinue of fighters of Legate Severa, not counting the double of their numbers in servants and slaves to keep the mansion clean and running. The redcaps were a first for Gullbani, that has not yet seen one of the famous redcaps, yet. Back in the war against the Southern Empire, the redcaps earned a reputation of being fierce warriors, whose savagery could rival the berserkers of the Asgard Kingdom.

The Redcaps were a short race, standing on four to five feet height as average; however, their race hid under that deceptive appearance, a lot of strength, as they were easily stronger than the average human, and they slim but strong bodies allow them to move fast and strike hard, especially with the weapons that they favored; all of them designed to bleed their enemies or cause them severe crippling damage.

The leader of this little bunch of Redcap warriors, was a tiny female of their species, barely four feet and half tall; dressed with a middle calf long white dress and her big red hat; that carried a serrated cleaver as tall as her as if it weighed as much as a feather. She had big eyes and long white hair; the tips of her white mane ended in crimson strands. She had a fanged smile in her big mouth; all her teeth were fangs; and a floppy red hat that hung from the side of her head.

Gullbani knew that the lady was totally out of her mind just with a mere glance, and did all he could to keep himself out of her way. Unfortunately, the crazy Redcap; Idrina was her name; was eager to test her skills against the famous Dragonkin of the Coliseum. She practically hunted him down, until he agreed to spar against her; it didn't take long for Gullbani to defeat the girl, skilled as she was, she was unable to keep up with a monster like him.

That brought the consequence that the girl becomes obsessed with defeating him; she has found a worthy challenge, and that gave her an excellent reason to get out of her bed each morning. Daily spars were a common occurrence now, and the girl was making it harder each time; she surely was skilled with that serrated cleaver of hers.

On a side note, Legate Severa was delighted to see that Idrina was having so much fun, the Redcap was growing restless and these spars with Gullbani was exactly that the medic prescribed.

Lucrecia Severa; a slave name, granted to her by the Severa family that had their main home in the capital city of Hesperides; was a tall and incredibly beautiful Dark Elf woman. She was six foot and half tall woman, with long red hair; something that called the attention of Gullbani, as for what he knows from Aneesa, red hair was unusual for Dark Elves; deep purple eyes and the pointy ears that were the mark of her race along a heart-shaped face that only accentuated her exotic appearance; compared with the humans and other monster races around. Her deep tanned skin was flawless and she had the most alluring set of curves that Gullbani has seen in a while.

Curiously enough, she was a natural redhead, but from time to time she whited her hair, according to the trends of Hesperides. She hated them, but as a Libertos,Ingrata or not, she was obliged to act the part of a standing citizen of the Empire. The first day that Gullbani saw her in the Coliseum, she had her hair white because she has just arrived at the city. As soon as she got a house in Hesperusa, washed her hair back to her natural color. Gullbani preferred her as redhead by a long margin.

She was the Legate of all the Slave Legions that fought in the battlefront on where Carnage and his former Talon were deployed and after what Carnage learned, the respect of the Kin for the woman grew up a notch, grew up to a notch one. It was hers, the one that commanded the Legions in such a way, that had the Kin blocked and constantly on their heels more than on their toes, always in a defensive stance. The Kin has to be grateful that she could not command the Myrmidons directly, otherwise, the Dragon Empire would have lost the entire southeast coast of the Cold Sea.

Meeting her was quite the surprise for Gullbani, but he kept his mouth shut about who he really was; so far only two new of his secret, the deceased Murmur and Magni, and the Asgardian would die first than betray the trust the Dragonkin has put on him, especially after Gullbani deciphered what the tattoo of the hammer really means and helped him to always keep the marking covered. Opening that can of worms would be a very bad idea right now; it would lead to a series of events that Gullbani preferred to keep on the quiver for the moment. It was a last resource kind of tactic.

In all, this contract with the Legate Severa was not all that bad.

Traveling from the Coliseum to the manor, spar with Idrina, wait if the Legate wanted to go outside or not; accompany the Legate Severa to wherever she wanted to go, kept her safe, being at her side all day and at the afternoon or evening; depending if Gullbani has to fight on the Coliseum or not; be back at the Coliseum for his battles or to rest and sleep for the rest of the day.

A curious side effect was how the Legate and her personal retinue become quite the usual public of the battles that Gullbani and his comrades of the Lycaios School, had on the Arena. Especially the Redcaps and the Ogres, that soon become quite attached to Gullbani. The former because he could keep Idrina in a way more mellow mood than her usual irritated mood and the latter because Gullbani has cooked lunch for them more than once in the manor, and their stomachs were loyal to the Dragonkin.

Gullbani soon understood why the Legate Severa wanted the best of the best, as they suffered five different attacks in the first week of her staying in Hesperusa. Thanks to his [Telepathy] skill, Gullbani was even more dumbfounded that all the five come for five different sources. Anyhow, he dealt with all of them the same way, with fire and steel.

The first attack was an ambush at a side street of the market, a violent of "rogue" Legionaries that blamed the Legate for the fiasco of the war, wanted to kill her. Gullbani shreds them to pieces and set the rest aflame; they were humans, well trained and armed, but humans and against him were little more than nuisances.

The second attack was an arrow shot from a ceiling, at quite the distance, Gullbani blocked the strike with his shield, as soon as his [Blindsight] alerted of the shot.

The third attempt was an ambush of savage goblins in a restaurant, the vermin tried to overwhelm them with numbers inside a closed space and Gullbani simply set the place on fire, burning all of them to the ground, before they could even get close to Legate Severa.

The fourth attempt came when a beast from the Slave market was "accidentally" released; a dangerous Black Hound; just when the Legate and his retinue was walking nearby. The beast ran into a shadow, appearing right in front of their noses and jumped at Severa, opening wide his jaws to rip her apart, Gullbani cut the poor dog in half with an upward swing.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Black Hound: Abyss Magic affinity Usurped]_. A wonderful reward indeed, [Abyss Magic] was one of the favorite branches of magic for Gullbani, the perfect Magic Hunter tool.

The fifth attempt was way more discrete, and in all honesty, it was a bloody miracle that Gullbani was there.

It was a lazy day, the Legate Severa has been at home all day, busy in her private study, dealing with a ton of paperwork and mail that has come that same morning. At the beginning of the evening, Gullbani was packing the few things that he carried around; namely a satchel with some ingredients from the market, his Dane ax, his shield, and his long coat; when the Legate Severa came into the room, observing the clothes that Gullbani had on him.

"You know, Gullbani, I have meant to ask, where did you get such wonderful silk?". Asked the Legate, who was walking around her own house, but still kept some armor and a sword with her at all times.

"I made it myself". Confessed Gullbani easily threading some of his webbings into a strong, red thread of silk.

"Oh, how peculiar". Raised an eyebrow the Legate, with an appreciative glance to the thread and a predatory smirk in her lips.

Gullbani had to admit that she was quite the beauty, even if her purple eyes usually take the faraway look of someone that has seen too much.

"Say, you wouldn't mind to made some clothes for me, would you?". Gullbani knew enough about women to recognize the tone and the smile of the Legate; there was no denying option here.

"I will be delighted". Smiled Gullbani back, surrendering to the inevitable. "Anything concrete in mind?".

"Walk with me Gullbani, we can talk about it; surely Lycaios would have little trouble adding some extra cost in my tab for some extra hours". She waved with a hand, practically ordering Gullbani to follow her and left his things where they are. "After all, you have become quite popular among the whispers of the women of the Noble houses".

Gullbani start to walk at the side of the Legate, Gullbani was eight feet tall, so he was two feet taller than the woman, and as the Ogres that form part of her retinue, Gullbani was grateful for the tall doors, otherwise, he would have been walking around half-crouched.

"Please, don't mention it". Grunted Gullbani. "I will admit that sometimes it is pleasurable, indeed, but being chained to a bed; by a woman for whom you feel only disgust, and who had her way with you, with some toys that I could have lived without learning how they work; it is not a pleasant thing".

"I served as concubine too". Sighed Legate Severa, confessing some of the worst parts of her past. "Fortunately, my former owner was a jealous one and never allowed anyone but him to put a finger on me; unfortunately, he was an ugly, fat prick with an ego the size of the Coliseum and none of the brains to back it up".

"You survived". Shrugged Gullbani. "And for I can see, leaving apart the assassination attempts; that I found funny more than menacing; you have made quite the living for yourself, Legate".

"I will be honest with you, Dragonkin". Sighed the Dark Elf. "I hate my position as Legate, it's the only way that I had to be sure that my subordinates had a chance to live; but I hate the foolishness of the majority of the Senate back in Hesperides".

"People tend to forget that this country is under the tyranny of a Demigod". Nodded Gullbani, who has read enough minds of politicians and the such, to know that Jusar had all the power, and the rest are little more than glorified advisers and exalted pencil pushers. "Jusar word is law, the rest is just pretty words carried by the wind".

"Ha!, you understand the Southern Empire better than most of his citizens". Shortly laughed Severa, and Gullbani thought that she had a nice laugh.

"As Slave, people forget that I had ears and a brain too". Shrugged Gullbani again.

Well, mostly it was thanks to his [Telepathy] but playing humble was always a nice thing, no one expects the claws when they only see a fluffy and adorable thing instead of a bloody tiger.

"I can see that". Smiled Severa. "You are possibly the reason why we are all alive, especially with the archer and the Black Hound attempts. "It is worrying, and a bit absurd; I do not possess such influence or carry around anything so dangerous that could grant me this much attention".

Gullbani ponder that statement a little, in truth, Legate Severa was indeed a dangerous person; she was one of the main assets of the resistance groups here and in the Capital, but she was far from being all that dangerous.

Her Slave Legions, as professional and capable as they were, were hardly a drop in the ocean of the Southern Empire Legions; and her influence in the Senate was mostly among the military, who were absolutely controlled by the Emperor. Under that light, why try to kill her so insistently?. Something was wrong here and Gullbani was a bit peeved that he had not found any trace of anything like this in the minds of the people of Hesperusa.

"Perhaps, its something more symbolic?". Guessed Gullbani, not very convinced himself. "I mean, don't take me wrong Legate, but you are one of the most powerful women of the Southern Empire, and now that Jusar has botched up the bloody war, perhaps he is fearing that the Slaves could start adding two and two and realize that there is No Southern Empire without them".

"An interesting thought". Arched and eyebrow Legate Severa, a bit surprised for the words of Gullbani. "Would you mind to gave a more detailed explanation?". Severa knew that Gullbani was, possibly, the main ace of the Lycaios School.

The Asgardian and Severa´s Dark Elf kin were impressive, but the one that was a nightmare in battle was the Dragonkin, and for the reports that came from the Slave Barracks in the Coliseum, the Dragonkin has not ever said a word about rebellion, at last, not in public.

"Numbers and necessities". Said Gullbani, scratching the side of his bone like crown. "The entire crops fields of the Southern Empire are worked by slaves, they produce the majority of the food of the Empire, also the manufacturing workshops, despite being owned by humans, are filled to the brim with slaves, not to mention the Slave Legions, for each common Legion, there is two Slave Legions".

"Even if the Southern Empire started to kill any rebelling slave". Continued his explanation Gullbani, seeing things from a pragmatic point of view. "They have been bumping some many works and chores into slaves, for so many years, that they would soon found themselves with difficulties to find competent workforce for something as vital as sowing the crop fields, attending the cattle or cleaning the streets and sewers of the cities".

"From a military point of view, it is true that the [Crest of the Slave] granted the servitude of the Slave Legions". Gullbani opened a door for the Legate, she was the lady of the house after all.

Pandora taught Magnus a lot of things, not that the old Nordmanni cared about it, but pissing off Pandora was never a good idea and the lessons stayed with him.

"But the Crest can only bring pain, sacrificing thousands of soldiers; some of them, way stronger and capable for some task that the average Legionary; was a total stupidity, that´s one of the reasons why Custodes die so frequently in the front lines, they suffer...accidents, during their time of command of the Slave Legions".

"I find myself concurring with you". Admitted Legate Severa. "But you had to admit that the [Crest of the Slave] is a very powerful motivator, fear and pain has kept slaves docile for decades".

"And it is its own weak spot". Nodded Gullbani. "[Crest of the Slave], as powerful ritual as it is, it only that, a ritual, any expert on [Rituals] capable of Tier 6 could undo the ritual, not to mention, the tattoo is not resistant to magic, a careful shot of even a [Night Spear], an [Abyss Magic] Tier-1 spell, could potentially break the Crest, freeing the slaves".

Legate Severa was a bit shocked; has Gullbani just told her how to eliminate the Crest?, well, sure the resources that he has mentioned were either hard to find or under so many wraps in the Southern Empire that it would be impossible to access to them, but alas, there were Libertos Ingratas that could, potentially, pull their hands on them; if it was the case, then the slaves could be free faster than she thought.

"You are way more knowledgeable of magic that I expected you to be". Confessed Severa, feeling that perhaps, Gullbani was not only the capable warrior that she has seen but an equal mind to have very interesting conversations with.

"I was capable of use magic". Drummed his own chest Gullbani, just over the Crest, with his left hand, "this thing only blocked my access to my magic, my knowledge is something completely different". Explained Gullbani, something that he told the second day of his life as Lycaios prospect Gladiator when Wikóc demanded to know what skills, all of them possessed. "Not to toot my own horn, but I was a competent spellcaster".

"Good to know". Nodded the Dark Elf and when she smiled, Gullbani knew that he should have kept his mouth shut.

That smile was the same that Pandora had sometimes when she wanted something done and called for one of her favorite children. So far, only Godo and Magnus has called her mama, and that made them special at the heart of the Goddess.

"So, tailor, warrior, chef, spellcaster, lover; is there anything you can't do, Gullbani?". Asked in humorous tone Severa.

"Singing". Said without missing a beat Gullbani. "I can not, for my dear life, play any instrument either; not without butchering the melody and the rhythm, I sound like a duck farting in the mist". Gullbani snorted. "Ah, I am horrid at any other house chore that is not cooking, last time I tried to mop the floor, I set it on fire; please don't ask, I don't know what I was thinking at the moment".

Severa´s laugh echo in the evening of the mansion, as she leaned over the wall of the yard where they have been taking a peaceful stroll, laughing at the silliness of the anecdote of Gullbani. She has imagined a small version of Gullbani, dusting a room with a broom and suddenly implode in cartoon-like rage, burning the broom to ashes and looking deeply low spirited at the end of it.

"Ah, By Attat, I needed that". She cleaned a tear of her eyes from the laughs. "Thanks for that Gullbani".

"You are welcome". Shrugged Gullbani, leaning against a column, waiting for the woman to recover of her laughing fit.

At the corner of the yard, the lithe figure of Idrina appeared and smiled to the two of them, walking with her usual quick pace, never losing her fanged smile and with her serrated cleaver always on her back.

Severa eyed the ferocious Redcap and sighed, she surely was about to demand/drag Gullbani into another spar before the Dragonkin could get back to the Coliseum. Idrina was a perfectionist in her fighting skills, once she has found a worthy opponent, she became relentless in her pursuit of defeating it. So far, with little to none success, as Gullbani always had another trick under his sleeve to put the Redcap down.

Not that Idrina was not a powerful warrior of her own, but Gullbani was better.

Severa and Idrina knew each other way back, since the Slave Legions, where they fought together and as soon as Severa gained her Libertos status, she did all she could, to buy or liberate all of her comrades. Idrina was one of the oldest and more reliable ones.

"Good night Idrina, shouldn't you beeee….!?". Suddenly, Gullbani grabbed Severa from the waist and pull her towards him, just in time to cover her head with his naked arm and block the incoming beheading strike that Idrina has unleashed in a bloody second.

The serrated cleaver dug an inch into the muscular, golden colored arm of Gullbani, breaking the scales that he had on it and making him bleed. Severa, still shocked for the sudden attack, thought that if her head was the one blocking that; her brain and face would be a splatter on the wall.

In front of the eyes of Severa, the left arm of Idrina changed into a spear and lunge at her, only to be blocked by the right hand of Gullbani, before the Dragonkin opened his mouth and breathed and inferno at the face of the whatever that had the appearance of Idrina.

The sudden flames made the Idrina´s look alike shriek and jump backward, taking the cleaver from the arm of Gullbani with a sickening sound, barely dodging the breath of fire, that left all the side of her face blackened and slightly smoking.

It all happened in a bloody second, however, Severa managed to recover balance and get her hands over the sword she carried everywhere since she was in Hesperusa; eyeing the thing that had the face of Idrina, Severa widened her eyes, really wanting it was not what she thought she was.

"A shapeshifter, how cute". Nonchalantly said Gullbani, whose arm already had a bandage of his own webbing. "This is starting to get ridiculous, I knew you were popular, Legate Severa, but this is out of the chart, even for the cutthroat politics of Hesperusa".

"That´s a Doppelganger, Sweet Attat". Muttered Severa taking her sword out of the scabbard and preparing to battle the thing that has imitated the face of a good friend.

"Dangerous?". Asked Gullbani, two fireballs dancing in his hands, as he never let his eyes go of the crouched imitation of Idrina.

"Verily, they can alter their form at will and were masters of combat". Resumed Severa. "I thought they were a myth, that the Emperor eradicated their kind, long ago".

They didn't have any more time to talk, when the Redcap lookalike jumped at them, swinging her cleaver in a side arc; Gullbani intercepted the cleaver again, but this time, and to the amazement of the two females, the cleaver clanged against the arm of Gullbani like it had hit metal.

[Brass Body] has turned Gullbani´s skin into resilient brass, hard enough to block the serrated edge. Unfortunately, before Severa could stab the doppelganger or Gullbani toss a fireball in her face, the changeling moved and with a show of impossible flexibility and skill, she twirled over Gullbani´s arm and kick his head with enough strength to send him crashing against a wall.

Severa took advantage of it and stabbed quickly the sides of the elusive copy, drawing a long line and spilling blood on the side of the copy. The blood was black and a thick, almost as if it didn't want to escape from the confines of the body of the Doppelganger.

Infuriated, the replica doubled her efforts and only the experience of Severa as Legionary saved her bacon from the onslaught of unpredictable strikes that came her way. Her sword was already chipped in a lot of parts, because of the effort of parrying and deflecting the impossible strikes and Severa was chastising herself for how she was having a lot of difficulties to keep up with the relentless attack of the Idrina replica.

All this time playing the cloak and dagger game has taken a toll on her physical capabilities and she was paying the price for it.

The cleaver wound Severa´s arm and she gritted her teeth, but suddenly, Gullbani blindsided the Doppelganger and punching her in the ribs, sending her flying into the open yard; she did spite saliva and blood from the sudden strike. Gullbani had a big bruise in his face and his face was showing an expression that could be interpreted as a frown, an annoyed and seriously pissed off frown.

"Legate Severa, please move inside and call for the rest of the guards". The cold, steely voice of Gullbani send a shiver to Severa´s spine and made the doppelganger pause a second, as her flesh recovered from the bump that the punch of Gullbani has left on her. "I will deal with the Doppelganger, ah, and I apologize beforehand for the destruction of the yard".

Before Severa could protest, a wall of flames erupted around Gullbani, circling him and the Doppelganger and hiding both from the sight of Severa, that raised her arm to protect her eyes from the sudden flames and had to step back from the heat of the flames.

"Gullbani!; what, in Attat´s name, are you doing?!". Called Severa to the other side of the flames.

"My bloody job". Laughed the voice of the Dragonkin.

Severa could not see it, but the Doppelganger was seeing streams of acid, lightning bolts and flames, dancing around the wicked smile of Gullbani; and the Doppelganger realized, how much has she fucked it up with this job.

There were no more words between them, as any semblance of humanity was left behind and jumped at each other with all they had.

The Doppelganger body was pushed to her limits, she had to force her body to endure the acid showers, the electricity, and the fire, adapting as much as she could to them and at the same time, either dodging or trying to soak somehow, the stingers of the Dragonkin.

The Doppelganger couldn't believe that this was a Dragonkin, it was impossible, it was a monster in all but name, he had several [Kinesis] abilities, he had twin bloody stingers, poisonous fangs, could shoot threads of webbing through his hands; and he could twist and bend like his body was made or rubber.

In less than a minute since they started to try to kill each other, the Doppelganger realized that she has met her match in the impossible diverse Dragonkin, if it wasn't for her years of experience in bending her body in all kind of shapes and traits; from hard as steel skin to long sharp appendages that could carve stone; she would have died way sooner.

For the Doppelgangers race, flesh is a "mind over matter" credo; your mind and will, determine what you can do and what you can not do. A wound?, force yourself to heal and that´s it, but this Dragonkin was matching and surpassing her endurance and regeneration; she had to force herself to heal, and that takes concentration; on the other hand, the Dragonkin was as hard to kill as a Troll and his wounds regenerated in a similar manner.

After abandoning all presumption of resembling anything remotely human, the Doppelganger has turned herself into a mass of flexible flesh and armed appendages that attacked the Dragonkin without pause, but the Dragonkin, with a mix of acid, fire and electricity, was answering back to the onslaught and dishing as much punishment and he was receiving.

Even more, as the flesh of the Doppelganger was slowly taking more and more time to regenerate.

It was not a walk in the park for Gullbani either; if it wasn't for his own set of unusual skills, he would be a minced corpse already. This Doppelganger was a master assassin, her flesh can take any shape or form, hardening, and sharpening as any blade would do and she could create a lot of extra, impossibly flexible, appendages to keep a constant assault of lethal weapons over her prey. She can even regenerate of a lot of the damage that she has suffered, and that was a complication that Gullbani has not foreseen.

Frankly, this entire situation was something that he could not foresee; there were too many attempts for the life of Legate Severa, way too many, even if she was an unpopular Libertos that has spoken against the slave policy of the Southern Empire more than once. This was not your everyday political murder, this superb assassin was something that should cost a bloody fortune and no one in Hesperusa holds such a hate for the Legate, at last, not in public, either in the mind readings that Gullbani has been collecting so far.

There was something that Gullbani has not seen in this situation and that enervated him; there was nothing worse than ignorance about your enemies; know your enemy is half the battle, and so far, Gullbani can only claim that he knows himself; and not as well as he would like to brag.

Speaking of knowing himself, perhaps it would be the perfect chance to test something that he has recently acquired, with a bit of luck, Legate Severa would interpret it as a show of trust and would allow Gullbani to know a bit more about why everyone and their Grandmother was trying to kill her.

With a loud growl, that seems to shock the Doppelganger a little, Gullbani transformed into a bestial hybrid of man and wolf; standing over twelve feet tall and built like a fortress. Gullbani was a golden-furred monster of massive claws, brutal jaws, and predatory power. But he did not have time to observe himself, as he just charged against his enemy and proceed to rip her apart, appendage by appendage.

The brutal jaw of the Werewolf, rip the appendages out of the colorless form of the Doppelganger, easily carving deep gashes and black bleeding wounds in every piece of flesh that his claws could reach. The Doppelganger was caught by surprise by this ferocious assault and tried to snare the Werewolf in a web of flesh and bone thorns; shredding the prey caught in such a net.

It was a vain effort, the strength of Gullbani, greatly augmented in this bestial form, was more than enough to carve a way out of the flesh trap, sending gored flesh flying everywhere. The primeval slaughterhouse continued for a while; both fighters trying to gain an edge against the regenerative skill of the other, by inflicting as much damage as possible in the less amount of time.

Even in the Coliseum, it would be hard to find a bloodier and more savage spectacle of pure violence and rage, that the one that the Doppelganger and Gullbani were starring, surrounded by the circle of fire that Gullbani has created to keep anyone out of the battle between the two.

Back in the day, as Magnus, the Campione, one of his [Authorities] was [Fjolnir], the shape-shifting power that allow him to take any appearance and shape he wanted. It was a very useful power that allow him to adapt to all of his enemies, taking a shape that would give him an advantage over their preys or simply mingling around the world and discovering new things. Boredom was the most dangerous enemy for a Campione, it could give them ideas and turn the world into a spin that the little planet was not ready to face.

Much to the delight of Gullbani, the Doppelganger was far from surrendering and it was fighting him with all it had, equaling claw by claw, rip by rip; the sharp, spear-like, appendages that it could create has pierced the body of Gullbani in several spots, luckily, the Werewolf Dragonkin was more than enough capable of ignore the damage and let his diverse regeneration traits took care of the wounds.

In all, despite the more than deserved fame of the fearsome skill and capabilities of the Doppelgangers, it was sorely unprepared to face Gullbani and with a final, violent rip of Gullbani´s wolf jaws, the main mass of the Doppelganger was ripped apart in a shower of gray flesh and strange bodily fluids.

A lot of them, burned against the wall of flames around them, but still, there was more than enough covering the furred body of Gullbani and the grounds, to demonstrate that the Doppelganger has been around; now in a lot of pieces, but still around. And it tasted like crap, took mental note Gullbani, as the blood and other unnamed fluids of the assassin, drenched his tongue and mouth.

 _[Circle of Usurpation: Elder Doppelganger: Shape-shifting Skill Usurped]_. Now, that was some sweet reward.

The ability to change his appearance and shape at will, much like the gray piece of fluid meat has been doing during all the battle they had just have. That opened a lot of interesting opportunities and chances, as soon as Gullbani could get himself free of the blasted Crest that he had in the chest, and that he could sense even now.

In any other circumstances, the Crest would have blocked the Werewolf transformation, but as it came from something like the [Circle of Usurpation], something that this world has not seen yet, the Crest was not prepared for it and could not block it.

Sighing a little, Gullbani lowered the firewalls around them, with his wounds slowly mending; all Werewolves had a natural healing factor, something that Gullbani was taking advantage off, and do not spend extra power in the [Troll Regeneration] trait that he usurped from the joke that Cómodo put on them, during their first day.

As soon as the flames lowered, Gullbani raised a furry eyebrow, at the picture of the dozens of spears that were pointing in his direction; Severa has not been idle during the battle, and has organized a ring of steel around the fire barrier, waiting for the end of the battle, to see who was standing at the end of it.

On the other side of the spear wall, Legate Severa was standing with an unsheathed sword; slightly glowing in the fresh air of the night and marking the weapon as a magical sword; ready to give the order to stab mercilessly anything that come from the circle of fire, but right now, she had a surprised expression on her beautiful face.

Not really a surprise, Gullbani was a massive werewolf now, and that would put any sane person on edge.

"Gullbani?, Attat´s Mercy, please tell me that is you". She asked, but never let her magic sword go, precaution was always a priority in her mind.

"Aye, Legate, I am". Answered Gullbani, slowly receding the transformation, back to his usual Dragonkin appearance. Still bloodied and wounded, but with a fierce victorious smile in her face that made Severa sigh and orders the troops to lower their spears.

"What are you Gullbani?". Asked Severa, sheathing her sword and observing the remnants of the Doppelganger all over her yard. "Top gladiator or not, Werewolf or not, a Doppelganger was a rival that very few can kill like you have done, by sheer brute force".

"I am very complicated". Laughed Gullbani, at the cold, night skies of Hesperusa.

 **End Chapter.**

 **Character Info:**

 **Name:**

Carnage "Carn" Runescales of the Stormrage Clan/ Gullbani of the Brimstone Clan.

 **Race:**

Dragonkin Overlord Level 76

 **Unique Skills:**

-Circle of Usurpation: Much like the Authority, Carn can steal a Skill/Authority/Trait from the body of a defeated enemy, but only if it has been defeated by him.

-Divine´s Bane: As former Devil King, Carn is the bane of any divine spellcaster or divine creature.

-We want grandbabies!- Pandora and Epimeteo wanted grandbabies to spoil, like it or not, Carn would have a harem.

 **Skills/Traits/Abilities.**

-God of Magic: Carn can learn any kind of magic, thanks to the Blessing of Pandora.

-Oldest soul: Carn had all the memories of Magnus Blacksson, the strongest and Oldest Campione of a bygone era. As magic comes from the soul, he had a godly reserve of magic to fuel his spells.

-Arcane System:

-Earth Magic Tier 4 1- [Echo]/ 2-[Metal sense]/3-[Earthcraft]/4-[Earth Armor]

-Sky Magic Tier 1 1-[Feather fall]

-Body Magic Tier 4 1-[Buff]/2-[Heal]/3-[Regenerate]/4-[Cleanse]

-Mind Magic Tier 1 1-[Zero Mind]

-Abyss Magic Tier 4 1-[Night Spear]/2-[Dark Mantle] /3-[Abyssal walker]/4-[Absorbing Abyss]/5-[Shadowcraft]/6- [Abyss Coat]/7-[Abyss Maw]

-Death magic Tier 1 1-[Death senses]

-Necromancy affinity Tier 4 1/2/3 [Summon Undead Servants Skeletons/Shadow Skeletons/Draugr]/ 4- [Undead Thrall]/ 5- `[Death Arsenal]/6- [Hungry Corpses]/7- [Corpsecraft]

-Ritual System:

-Unseen Servant: Carn can summon a Servant that acts as Steward, cleaning crew, cook, and infinite warehouse. He called the androgynous being of pure magic, Carravers It does have the sense of humor of an English butler.

-Algiz: Provides Magic Resistance (Arcane, Divine, and Ritual But NO Kinesis) for nine hours/days/years to a maximum of nine individuals depending on the magic power, components, sacrifices, etc.

-Revenant: Creates a powerful undead servant called Revenant.

-Requiem: Destroys an undead and releases its soul to whatever afterlife it was supposed to go.

-Unblemished Copyist: Creates a perfect replica of a non-magical text, drawing, etc.

-Fratricide: Kills an individual and all its blood progeny, no matter the generation.

-Crest of the Slave: Carnage can mark an individual with a mark that would make It a slave, with any configuration that Carnage put in the Crest.

 **Usurped Skills/Traits/Abilities/etc:**

 **Skills:**

-Pyrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural fire.

-Electrokinesis: Carn can create and manipulate natural electricity.

-Acidkinesis: Carn can create and manipulate dangerous acids.

-Telepathy: Carnage can communicate via telepathy to creatures that shared a language with him.

 **Blessings:**

-Blood of Fenrir: Gullbani is a Werewolf now, he can transform in a hybrid of man and wolf and into a powerful dire wolf at will. Other Fenrirblut would recognize him as the Alpha he is.

-Blessing of Pandora: Pandora never forgets her children. Carnage´s tale has been altered to a transcendental path.

-Blessing of Epimeteo: Pandora is happy, Epimeteo is happy. Carnage´s tale has been altered to a transcendental path.

-Red Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the redhead of Tiamat, Carn domain over fire is way superior to the rest of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Green Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the green head of Tiamat, Carn is the best poisoner of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Black Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the black head of Tiamat, Carn is the best Necromancy user of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

 **Traits:**

-Webbing: Carn can generate natural webbing of three colors steel, gold and red, he can project it from fingertips, mouth, tail tip and ass.

-Spit Poison: Carn can spit poison of varying virulence.

-Poisonproof: Carn is immune to all natural poison and highly resistant against magical poisoning

-Walk Walls: As a spider, Carn can walk barehanded/footed over non-slippery/wet surfaces

-Spiderkin: All Spiders considers Carn one of them, thanks to the effect of the [We want Grandbabies] bless, all female Arachnes found Carn specially Alluring.

-Stone Mimetic: Took the appearance, texture, and smell of the surrounding rocks, but not his hardness.

-Fireproof: Carn is immune to all kind of natural fire and highly resistant against magical fire.

-Blindsight: Perfect, 360º sight at 10 meters, no matter the conditions.

-Stone carving claws: 12 inches twin stingers from his forearms capable of cutting and carving stone with easiness.

-Mimetic: Carn can mimetic with the environment, better than any chameleon would do.

-Corrosive Stench: Carn could generate acid, nauseate and acid sweat.

-Hardened scales: Carn´s scale hardness is massively increased.

-Blood drinker: Carn can absorb the blood of his preys, healing himself from even crippling wounds.

-Elasticity: Carn can make his body as elastic as a pile of goo, without losing any strength or resistance.

-Tireless body: As soon as his magic can keep exhaustion at bay, Carn will not tire.

-Sharp scales: Carnage scales could turn sharp and edgy, wounding anything that touched them without protection.

-Might of the predator: Carnage muscles are denser, stronger and more durable than they should, giving him strength, way beyond his size.

-Ghostkin: Ghosts, specters, phantoms and other apparitions, consider Carnage Kin and do not molest him. Thanks to the effect of [We want Grandbabies!], all female apparitions found Carn, specially Alluring.

-Multidexterity: Hands, feet, tail, tentacles, tongue; no matter, Carn can use any appendage as it was his good hand.

-Feel No Pain: Carnage could tune out any sensation of pain, numbing his nerves and pushing beyond his limits; suffering the drawback, of course.

-Myrmidon Royalty: At the eyes of the Myrmidons, Carnage is a mix between a Royal Guard and the Queen of the Hive; the ultimate peak of the Hive. Carnage has bound his destiny to the Tale of the Golden Apple Tree watcher.

-Regeneration: Carnage can regenerate even the most grievous wounds, except acid, fire, and pesticides.

-Insatiable Libido: The body of Gullbani´s is a sex machine; having sex only augmented the desire for more sex.

-Brass Body: The body of Gullnani could become as hard as solid brass.

-Troll Regeneration: Gullbani regenerates any wounds, except those inflicted by fire.

-Devourer: Gullbani digestive system is capable of eating anything, without consequences. Even inorganic matter or dangerous substances, as long as they are ingested and not injected or inhaled, it doesn't matter if they are poisonous or not.

-Poisonous Body: Gullbani could make his entire body poisonous.

-Bloodkin: All the Vampire races, consider Gullbani one of them. Thanks to the effect of [We Want Grandbabies!], female Vampires consider Gullbani, specially Alluring.

-Shape-Shifting: Gullbani´s flesh is under his complete control, he could transform it at will and adopt any appearance he wanted.


End file.
